What is the MIPI interface?

MIPI stands for Mobile Industry Processor Interface. It is not a single interface but a set of specifications developed by the MIPI Alliance to provide a unified interface standard for processors, peripherals, and sensors in mobile and embedded devices. The MIPI Alliance is a global collaborative organization comprising hundreds of technology companies. Founded in 2003, its mission is to define and promote hardware and software interface specifications to simplify component integration in mobile devices and devices influenced by mobile technology. This includes interfaces for cameras, displays, CPUs/GPUs, sensors, and memory.

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Achieve interconnect standardization: Provide a common method for interfacing components from different vendors.
Accelerate time to market: Simplify design and integration processes.
Reduce costs: Optimize component integration and system complexity.
Improve performance: Ensure high bandwidth, low power consumption, and low electromagnetic interference (EMI) communications.

For cameras, the most relevant and widely adopted MIPI specification is MIPI CSI-2 (Camera Serial Interface-2).

CSI-1 is the original Mipi standard interface architecture, which defines the connection interface between camera modules and host processors.

CSI-2 was first released in 2005 and includes multiple protocol layers, such as:

Physical Layer
Lane Merger Layer
Low-Level Protocol Layer
Pixel to Byte Conversion Layer
Application Layer

In the second half of 2017, the second version of MIPI CSI-2 was released, supporting RAW-16 and RAW-20 color depths. Additionally, it supports increasing the number of virtual channels from 4 to 32, effectively reducing latency and improving transmission efficiency (LRTE).

The third version of MIPI CSI-2 was released in 2019 and supports RAW-24 color depth.

MIPI CSI-3 was first released in 2012, followed by the next version in 2014. It provides a high-speed bidirectional protocol for image and video transmission between cameras and hosts.

Of these three types, MIPI CSI-2 is the most commonly used interface in mobile and remote applications such as autonomous driving, drones, and computer vision.