Intel RealSense cameras can use an open source library called librealsense as a driver for the Jetson TX1 and TX2 development kits. Looky here:
Background
With the release of L4T 28.1, both the Jetson TX1 and Jetson TX2 run on a Linux 4.4 version kernel. The 4.4 kernel has built-in support of the RealSense camera formats in the UVC video module. Earlier versions of L4T running an earlier kernel version required that the kernel be rebuilt before using a RealSense camera. Here’s an earlier article for reference.
That’s great news, as it simplifies installation of the RealSense driver library, librealsense. Without having to rebuild the kernel, life be good.
Install librealsense
A convenience script has been created to help with this task in the installLibrealsense repository on the JetsonHacks Github account.
For the Jetson TX2:
$ cd $HOME
$ git clone https://github.com/jetsonhacks/installLibrealsenseTX2.git
$ cd installLibrealsenseTX2
$ ./installLibrealsense.sh
For the Jetson TX1:
$ cd $HOME
$ git clone https://github.com/jetsonhacks/installLibrealsenseTX1.git
$ cd installLibrealsenseTX1
$ ./installLibrealsense.sh
This will build the librealsense library and install it on the system. This will also setup udev rules for the RealSense device so that the permissions will be set correctly and the camera can be accessed from user space. There is a patch applied during the installation which fixes an issue with the UVC video module not being recognized. This issue has been addressed upstream in the librealsense repository, but is not in a release just yet.
Note: At this point, both of the Jetson scripts are identical because the same kernel is being used. Prior to the release of L4T 28.1, the Jetson TX2 and Jetson TX1 ran different kernel versions.
Notes
Here are some notes:
- In the video above, the installation was done on a Jetson TX2 running L4T 28.1 immediately after being flashed by JetPack 3.1
- Librealsense now uses CMake as its build system.
- QtCreator and Qt 5 are installed as dependencies in the librealsense part of the install. There are QtCreator project files located in the librealsense.qt directory. The project files build the library and example files. If you do not use QtCreator, consider modifying the installer script to remove QtCreator.
- These scripts install librealsense version v1.12.1
- The RealSense R200 is the only camera tested at this time.
- Some people have reported issues when using the camera directly attached to the Jetson USB 3.0 port. A powered USB 3.0 hub is recommended
- The RealSense cameras are USB 3.0 devices. If the camera is attached to a USB hub, the USB hub must support USB 3.0
- Examples using librealsense are located in ~/librealsense/build/examples
- Intel RealSense Stereoscopic Depth Cameras is a comprehensive overview of the stereoscopic Intel RealSense RGBD imaging systems