This is a simple Linux device driver for the Panasonic amg88xx-series thermal cameras. This project is still in a very early stage!

The amg88xx sensors use i2c-interface and a single interrupt line for communication. This driver exposes the i2c registers to userspace via sysfs. Some extra features are also exposed, please take a look at the sysfs interface chapter for more info.

• add support for the device interrupt
  • sysfs entry for the interrupt
  • interrupt handling in kernel
  • notifying userspace through the sysfs
• complete the sysfs interface
• finish the devicetree overlay
• add support for an "easier" interface (/class/iio maybe?)
• write an example userspace application

First clone this reposity:

git clone https://github.com/vuorioi/amg88xx-kernel-driver.git

Then use the supplied Makefile to build the driver (make sure that you have the proper kernel headers installed):

cd amg88xx-kernel-driver && make

In order for this driver to function properly the devicetree needs to have an entry for the amg88xx sensor. This repo provides a sample devicetree overlay for Raspberry.

Compile the devicetree overlay with dtc:

dtc -W no-unit_address_vs_reg -O dtb -I dts -o amg88xx.dtbo amg88xx-overlay.dts

And load it with dtoverlay:

sudo dtoverlay amg88xx.dtbo

Finally load the module:

sudo insmod amg88xx.ko

The sysfs entries are found in the /sys/bus/i2c/device/<device_name>/ directory. You can find the right device_name by running the following command:

cd /sys/bus/i2c/devices/ && ls * | grep amg88xx */name

Before the device can be used it must be set to normal or one of the stand-by modes:

sudo sh -c "echo <mode> > device_mode"

mode can be any on of the following:

• normal Normal operation, refresh rate chosen by the FPSC register
• sleep Sleep mode, all register read as 0x0
• standby_60 Stand-by mode with wake-up every 60 s to refresh the sensor and the irq line
• standby_10 Stand-by mode with wake-up every 10 s to refresh the sensor and the irq line

The amg88xx-overlay.dts contains an example devicetree overlay that can be used with Raspberry Pi. The devicetree needs the following nodes:

• node for the device pinctrl
  • check the documentation for the gpio controller in your system for implementation
  • this node should specify a single gpio as an input and use a pull up (if possible)
• node for the i2c device
  • reg has to be 0x68 or 0x69 (depending on the hw configuration)
  • compatible = "panasonic,amg88xx"
  • interrupt-gpio to tie gpio line for reading the interrupt state from the hw
  • interrupts should be configured on the same gpio pin as the interrupt-gpio
  • interrupt-parent should be set to point the interrupt controller of this node (propably a gpio controller node)
  • a link to the device pinctrl should be provided via pinctrl-0and pinctrl-names

The sysfs interface is not fully implemented! This driver exposes the following sysfs files:

• device_mode i2c register: PCTL
  • reading this file returns the device mode:
    • normal Normal operation, refresh rate chosen by the FPSC register
    • sleep Sleep mode, all register read as 0x0
    • standby_60 Stand-by mode with wake-up every 60 s to refresh sensor and irq line
    • standby_10 Stand-by mode with wake-up every 10 s to refresh sensor and irq line
  • writing a correct device mode to this file sets the device mode
• reset i2c register: RST
  • following values can be writin to this file:
    • full device is reseted to the initial state
    • partial only the status register, interrupt flag and interrupt map is reseted
• framerate i2c register: FPSC
  • reading this file returns the current framerate or 0 if the device is in sleep mode
  • writing a valid value (1 or 10) to this file sets the framerate
• interrupt_state i2c register: INTC bit 0
  • reading this file returns the value of interrupt enabled bit:
    • enabled interrupt line is in use
    • disabled interrupt line is not in use
  • writing this file changes the interrupt enabled bit
• interrupt_mode i2c register: INTC bit 1
  • reading this file returns the value interrupt mode bit:
    • absolute
    • differential TODO what is the difference between the two
  • writing this file changes the interrupt mode bit
• interrupt_levels i2c registers: INTHL to IHYSH
  • reading this file returns the interrupt upper and lower limits and the hysteresis in the following format: upper,lower,hysteresis. All values are signed integers
  • writing this file sets the interrupt limits and hysteresis. All three values must be writen at the same time
• interrupt this file maps the interrupt gpio to userspace:
  • active the interrupt gppio pin is low, i.e. there is an active interrupt
  • not_active the interrupt gpio pin is high, i.e. there isn't an active interrupt
  • This file will recieve a notify from the kernel when a new interrupt is recieved. So the file can be poll()'ed by userspace programs. TODO add an example.
• interrupt_map i2c register: INT0 to INT7
  • reading this file returns a 8x8 map showing which pixels are generating interrupts
• thermistor i2c registers: TTHL and TTHH.
  • reading this file returns the thermistor output in signed integer format
• sensor i2c registers: T01L to 0xFF
  • reading this file returns the 8x8 array containing the sensor values in signed integer format