ZED Link Quad GPIO Triggering

The ZED Link Quad GMSL2 capture card allows to synchronize external sensors by using triggering signals on the 16 pins 2mm pitch GPIO connector J17.

Master mode - Trigger out #

The ZED Link Quad capture card requires I²C commands to switch to master mode and send out synchronization signals.

First of all connect the required cables to the GPIO port J17:

Connect the ground signal (Black - GND) to the pin #2
Connect the trigger out signal of the GMSL2 port J1 (Red - DESER1_MFP10) to the pin #16
Connect the trigger out signal of the GMSL2 port J2 (Brown - DESER2_MFP10) to the pin #13

Enable the trigger out synchronization signals #

Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+t) and enter the following commands:

NVIDIA®Jetson Jetpack 6.x #

Pin #16 - Signal DESER1_MFP10 - Port J1

sudo i2cset -y -f 13 0x29 0x04 0xa0 0x24 i

Pin #13 - Signal DESER2_MFP10 - Port J2

sudo i2cset -y -f 9 0x29 0x04 0xa0 0x24 i

NVIDIA®Jetson Jetpack 5.x #

Pin #16 - Signal DESER1_MFP10 - Port J1

sudo i2cset -y -f 34 0x29 0x04 0xa0 0x24 i

Pin #13 - Signal DESER2_MFP10 - Port J2

sudo i2cset -y -f 30 0x29 0x04 0xa0 0x24 i

Triggering signal #

The output trigger signals are two square wave, with their rising edge synchronized with the end of the exposure phase of the CMOS sensors.

The signals have a fixed Amplitude of 3.3V +/- 1%, while Width and Frequency change according to the frame rate setting of the camera.

📌 Note: The two deserializers installed on the ZED Link Quad are not synchronized, so the cameras connected to the GMSL2 port J1 and J2 will have a variable capture offset, depending on the camera open time. Only the two cameras connected to the same GMSL2 port are synchronized.

Future versions of the drivers will introduce full synchronization for all the cameras connected to the same ZED Link Quad card.