Best MIPI to USB Solutions

Need a MIPI to USB bridging solution?

Here’s a detailed comparison of the best MIPI to USB solutions:

• tinyVision’s tinyCLUNX33 SoM (powered by Lattice CrossLinkU-NX33 FPGA)
• Traditional MIPI-to-USB bridging approaches using Cypress (Infineon) chips, FTDI, or ASIC/microcontroller solutions

Here is a detailed comparison of these solutions across key criteria:

tinyCLUNX33 SoM (CrossLinkU‑NX33 + Zephyr RISC‑V)

• Ease of implementation / integration
  • Off‑the‑shelf SoM with built‑in RISC‑V + Zephyr RTOS, USB3 PHY, MIPI D‑PHY, power/clock, connectors.
  • Includes open‑source reference design, StreamLogic ISP, and adapter boards for rapid integration. Minimizes custom PCB & firmware work.
• Power consumption
  • Native USB3 integrated in FPGA, eliminating separate bridge chip; reported below 200 mW for USB pipe (~3.4 Gbps), ~135 µA in low‑power standby.
  • CrossLinkU‑NX claims up to 75% lower power vs. competing FPGAs and very low standby power.
• Size / footprint
  • Compact 1″×1″ module (25.4 mm × 25.4 mm), with low height and vibration-safe connector. Eliminates external USB PHY bridge chip.
• Multi‑sensor support
  • Supports up to 7 concurrent camera streams, and tested with two 4K/30fps streams. USB bandwidth ~3.5 GBps application layer (~2.7 Gbps tested).
  • Onboard FPGA allows combining, stitching or processing across cameras, plus custom ISP pipelines.
• Price
  • Development/dev‑kit pricing ~$100 USD per module (compute or connectivity version); production licensing extra.
  • Likely higher per‑unit cost than bare chips but includes board, tooling, and software stack.

Cypress / FTDI USB3 Bridge Chips (e.g. FX3, FTDI FIFO chips)

• Ease of implementation
  • Requires separate FPGA/ASIC to handle MIPI input, plus Cypress bridge chip for USB3.
  • Integration needs custom PCB, firmware for sensor control, bridge FIFO handling, driver enumeration.
• Power consumption
  • Two separate chips: FPGA + USB bridge, plus external RAM if needed. Higher power draw and BoM complexity.
• Size
  • Larger board area required: MIPI sensor, FPGA, bridge chip, external qSPI/RAM needed for bridging.
• Multi‑sensor support
  • Typically designed for single camera per bridge chip. Multi‑sensor requires multiple bridges or complex FPGA logic.
• Price
  • Total BoM and board cost for Cypress FX3 or FTDI SuperSpeed chips, plus FPGA, is much higher than using tinyCLUNX. Plus multiple chips increase the complexity of the solution.

ASIC or Microcontroller Bridge Chips (e.g. Omnivision OV580)

• Ease of implementation
  • ASICs like OV580 offer turnkey MIPI-to-USB bridging with built‑in ISP, minimal integration. Limited to fixed resolutions & frame‑rate range.
• Power consumption
  • ASICs are efficient for supported use cases but lack flexibility; low power but limited scope.
• Size
  • Small package BGA chips; but require MIPI interface design and external support circuitry.
• Multi‑sensor support
  • Typically support only single or dual sensor inputs combined into one stream. OV580 supports dual‑2‑lane MIPI to single USB — mostly for stereo/3D at ~1080p30.
• Price
  • ASIC prices may be higher per unit for low volumes, licensing cost, longer lead times.

Comparison Table of Best MIPI to USB Solutions

Final Recommendations

• Choose tinyCLUNX33 SoM if you need rapid prototyping of MIPI to USB solution or production of multi-camera systems with on‑board RISC‑V/FPGA processing, compact size, and low‑power USB3 connectivity.
• Use Cypress/FTDI + FPGA setup if you're building highly customized FPGA-based vision pipelines but can tolerate higher complexity, power, and board size.
• Use a fixed-function ASIC bridge (e.g. OV580) when you need simple single‑ or stereo‑camera USB output with minimal compute and known resolution/frame‑rate, and integration effort is minimal.