Stop Making Blind Choices! An Ultimate Guide to Camera Interface Selection: From MIPI to GMSL

To be honest, for friends working on embedded or AI projects, when they see a table full of odd-shaped camera interfaces for the first time, their inner thoughts are probably: "They’re all just for transmitting images—do they really need to be so diverse?" Some come with colorful flat cables, some look like the old coaxial cables in elevators, and others even have an Ethernet cable attached. In fact, this is not manufacturers deliberately making things difficult. The choice of interface essentially boils down to a trade-off between four factors: bandwidth, distance, latency and cost. We won’t waste time on textbook jargon today—let’s cut to the chase and talk about how these interfaces actually work.

DVP is like an old-fashioned "side-by-side boulevard", consisting of 8 to 16 data lines, plus a clock line and synchronization signal lines. It adopts parallel transmission, where data is transmitted in an orderly manner just like a formation of people marching in queue.

Advantages: Its biggest merit lies in simplicity and straightforwardness. It transmits raw level signals without the need for complex encoding and decoding logic. A simple driver is sufficient to make it work, and even low-end microcontrollers can easily handle it.

Disadvantages: Its performance ceiling is rather low. With multiple lines arranged in parallel, when the transmission speed increases (i.e., frequency rises), severe crosstalk and timing skew will occur between the lines. Once the frequency goes up, the screen will be filled with snowflake-like noise. Therefore, it has a very narrow bandwidth and is basically obsolete in the high-definition era.

Application Scenarios: Nowadays, DVP has basically stepped back to a secondary role, mainly being used in barcode scanners, low-pixel toys, or simple sensor data acquisition scenarios. If your project only requires scanning QR codes, DVP is still the most cost-effective choice.

Why can mobile phones shoot 4K or even 8K videos? All thanks to MIPI. It adopts the low-swing differential transmission mode of MIPI D-PHY/C-PHY. You can think of it as "a type of differential signal that is more delicate than LVDS but more efficient". It is no longer like an ordinary formation, but rather groups of highly coordinated "elite special forces" twisted around each other. It boasts extremely strong anti-interference capability and incredibly high data transmission efficiency. For example, all models of our regular Neardi development boards are basically equipped with MIPI camera interfaces as standard.

LKB3576 Development Board

Advantages: Extremely high bandwidth combined with ultra-low power consumption. It can transmit an astonishing volume of data with minimal power loss. More importantly, it interfaces directly with the ISP (Image Signal Processor) inside the SoC. This means that as soon as the image comes in, the ISP can immediately take over processing tasks (color grading, denoising, sharpening) without involving the CPU at all.

Disadvantages: It is truly delicate. The transmission distance usually cannot exceed 30 centimeters; the signal will be lost if the PCB traces are routed even a little too far. Moreover, MIPI debugging is a nightmare for all developers—you need to handle complex D-PHY or C-PHY physical layer logic, and also optimize those hair-pulling image quality parameter files.

Application Scenarios: It is the core interface for mobile phones, tablets, and embedded AI boxes (RK3576/Raspberry Pi). If you are working on high-real-time face recognition or obstacle avoidance algorithms, MIPI is usually the most professional and efficient choice for on-board direct connection scenarios.

USB cameras rely on the UVC (USB Video Class) protocol, enabling plug-and-play image output. Most developers’ Neardi RK3588 integrated devices usually come with multiple reserved USB 3.0 interfaces, and the system layer has already completed UVC driver adaptation. Even if you don’t have an expensive MIPI module at hand, you can directly connect a USB camera to the Neardi board and still run algorithms smoothly.

LPB3588 Intelligent Computer

Advantages: Plug-and-play (driver-free) functionality is its biggest killer feature. For algorithm verification and demo presentations in the lab, you can get images in 5 minutes, making it a lifesaver for developers. Furthermore, it features extremely low cost—you can use any camera bought easily from a local store.

Disadvantages: Its convenience comes at the cost of CPU resources. The raw image data transmitted via USB is excessively large; USB 2.0 simply cannot handle it. Therefore, the camera will first compress the frames using MJPEG or H.264 internally. As a result, your CPU has to allocate a significant portion of its computing power to decompression. Many beginners complain that running YOLO models is too slow—actually, the CPU is already strained from decoding frames before it even starts model inference. If the SoC supports VPU hardware decoding and the corresponding drivers are properly configured, the CPU load from USB cameras can be significantly reduced, but the overall latency still cannot match that of MIPI. Additionally, the compression and decompression process introduces a perceptible latency ranging from tens to hundreds of milliseconds.

Application Scenarios: Video conferencing, external computer cameras, algorithm demos in the lab, and simple industrial quality inspection. If your real-time performance requirements are not extremely strict and the host has surplus computing power, USB is a perfectly viable choice.

When a camera needs to be installed on the ceiling of a cafeteria or even at a road intersection several kilometers away, an Ethernet cable is almost the most universal and mature choice. To meet such high-concurrency, long-distance monitoring needs, hardware manufacturers have spared no effort in interface configuration. Take Neardi's LPM3588 Intelligent Computer as an example—tailor-made for the NVR (Network Video Recorder) market, it boasts extremely powerful configurations: it supports up to 5 Gigabit Ethernet (1000M) ports and 1 Fast Ethernet (100M) port. This design is simply built to "feed" multiple high-definition network cameras; even if 6 or more channels of high-definition video streams come in simultaneously, the Gigabit bandwidth can easily handle them without any bottlenecks.

LPM3588 NVR Computer

Advantages: Extremely long transmission distance (100-meter class), which can be extended indefinitely via switches. Most popular among developers is its PoE support—one Ethernet cable handles both power supply and data transmission. The multi-port design like that of the LPM3588 eliminates the need for an external switch, greatly simplifying the wiring complexity of NVR systems.

Disadvantages: Relatively high latency. Because images must go through compression, network packaging, transmission, and then decompression. Compared to MIPI's native real-time performance, Ethernet cameras are slightly slower in response speed.

Application Scenarios: Security monitoring, smart cities, people flow statistics in cafeterias/supermarkets, and cross-regional remote networking. Simply put, almost all cameras installed on walls or utility poles use this interface.

In factory workshops, mines, or high-speed moving vehicles, ordinary interfaces can barely last half a day. Interfaces here must solve two ultimate problems: how to maintain clean signals in noisy electromagnetic environments? And how to transmit signals both far and fast?

Many people think "analog signals" should have been consigned to museums long ago, but AHD has forcibly carved out a niche in the digital age. It uses high-frequency carrier technology to squeeze high-definition video signals into old-fashioned coaxial cables. What's more, it is extremely rugged. In high-vibration, strong-interference environments like special vehicles (such as excavators, dump trucks, and buses), complex digital interfaces are prone to screen glitches due to loosening or electromagnetic waves. Neardi's LPA3588 development board is designed specifically for such scenarios, supporting up to 8 channels of 1080P AHD camera input. Imagine a sanitation or logistics vehicle equipped with 8 cameras around its front, rear, left, right, top, and bottom— the LPA3588 can stably receive all 8 channels of signals, and with the RK3588's NPU, perform full-range perimeter anti-collision prediction. This is truly "special forces" level performance.

LPA3588 Vehicle Control Host

Advantages: Rugged, affordable, and long transmission distance. Its requirements for cables are incredibly low—any coaxial cable can stably transmit signals for 100 to 200 meters, and even farther under specific conditions. Additionally, its signal transmission is real-time and uncompressed, without the latency associated with Ethernet cables. For harsh environments with limited budgets that require long-distance real-time monitoring (such as construction crane footage), it is the undisputed champion.

Disadvantages: Does not support "two-way communication". AHD mainly transmits video signals unidirectionally—there’s no way to send complex commands to the camera (such as in-depth parameter adjustment) through this cable. Moreover, the upper limit of image quality is restricted by the analog standard, making it difficult to achieve the purity of digital signals, with subtle noise visible on large screens.

Application Scenarios: Surveillance upgrades in old residential areas, rearview and reverse images for buses/trucks, and even some low-cost underground operation equipment.

This is currently the "top-tier" technology in the automotive field. Imagine an autonomous driving vehicle with cameras mounted at the front, while the main control computer is in the trunk—separated by more than ten meters and surrounded by interference from various high-voltage motors. MIPI can’t reach that far, USB is prone to crashes, and Ethernet has high latency. Thus, SerDes (Serializer/Deserializer) technology came into being. GMSL is a standout among them: it "packages fragile MIPI signals into iron blocks" (serialization) at the transmitting end, sends them through robust shielded cables, and then "unpacks and restores" them to MIPI at the receiving end.

Advantages: All-round and high-performance. It achieves true "four-in-one over a single cable": one cable handles video, audio, two-way control signals (I2C/UART), and power (PoC) simultaneously. It boasts extremely high bandwidth (supporting 8-megapixel, 90fps), with end-to-end latency controllable at the millisecond level—far lower than USB or Ethernet solutions—and complies with strict automotive-grade standards.

Disadvantages: Expensive and closed ecosystem. Its price is often ten to a hundred times that of USB solutions. Ordinary developers can hardly obtain its complete protocol manual, and debugging usually requires expensive specialized equipment.

Application Scenarios: Autonomous driving vehicles at L2/L3/L4 levels, advanced surgical robots, and high-end mobile warehouse robots (AGVs). It is the only choice for high-end mobile devices involving "life-or-death situations" or "ultra-low-latency real-time responses".

There is no "best" interface—only the most suitable one for the scenario. Use USB for lab demos, MIPI for high-performance products, RJ45 for remote monitoring, and grit your teeth for GMSL when it comes to automotive or high-end automation applications.