Nvarguscamerasrc with gstreamer not reading max gain/exposure correctly from sensor

Robotics & Edge Computing Jetson Systems Jetson Orin Nano
1

Setup:
I am using a Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit (8 GB) running Jetpack 6.2, connected to an IMX219 Arducam camera.

Issue

When I run my application, which uses GStreamer, I am not able to set the maximum value for gainrange and exposuretimerange. Instead, I get the following warning (as seen in the screenshot):

GST_ARGUS: NvArgusCameraSrc: Setting Gain Range : 1 9
GST_ARGUS: Invalid max gain value, using default maximum gain: 0.000000 instead.

Code used to set gain range

if (g_strcmp0(tokens[0], "gainrange") == 0) {
    if (!tokens[1] || !tokens[2]) {
        g_print("Invalid gainrange values. Use: gainrange <min> <max>\n");
    } else if (app->src) {
        gchar *range_str = g_strdup_printf("%s %s", tokens[1], tokens[2]);
        g_print("Setting gainrange to %s\n", range_str);
        g_object_set(app->src, "gainrange", range_str, NULL);
        g_free(range_str);
    }
}

I am using g_object_set() to set the gain range, but the system behaves as if the maximum gain value is 0.000, which triggers the fallback message shown above.

Looking into gstnvarguscamerasrc.cpp

I found the following logic inside the plugin:

if (src->controls.gainRange.low < sensorModeAnalogGainRange.min()) {
    GST_ARGUS_PRINT("Invalid min gain value, using default minimum gain: %f instead.\n",
        sensorModeAnalogGainRange.min());
    src->controls.gainRange.low = sensorModeAnalogGainRange.min();
}
if (src->controls.gainRange.high > sensorModeAnalogGainRange.max()) {
    GST_ARGUS_PRINT("Invalid max gain value, using default maximum gain: %f instead.\n",
        sensorModeAnalogGainRange.max());
    src->controls.gainRange.high = sensorModeAnalogGainRange.max();
}

The key point is that sensorModeAnalogGainRange.max() is returning 0.000, which causes the code to reject the values I set.

However, at startup the values are correct

The same function is used when the pipeline starts, and at that moment it correctly prints the gain and exposure ranges:

Main camera pipeline started.
GST_ARGUS: Creating output stream
CONSUMER: Waiting until producer is connected …
GST_ARGUS: Available Sensor modes :
GST_ARGUS: 3280 x 2464 FR = 21.000000 fps Duration = 47619048 ;
           Analog Gain range min 1.000000, max 10.625000;
           Exposure Range min 13000, max 683709000;
...

The corresponding code:

for (index = 0; index < modes.size(); index++) {
    iSensorMode[index] = interface_cast<ISensorMode>(modes[index]);
    if (!iSensorMode[index] || src->argus_in_error)
        ORIGINATE_ERROR("NULL SensorMode interface detected");

    sensorModeAnalogGainRange = iSensorMode[index]->getAnalogGainRange();
    limitExposureTimeRange = iSensorMode[index]->getExposureTimeRange();
    GST_ARGUS_PRINT("%d x %d FR = %f fps Duration = %lu ; Analog Gain range min %f, max %f; Exposure Range min %ju, max %ju;\n\n",
        iSensorMode[index]->getResolution().width(),
        iSensorMode[index]->getResolution().height(),
        (1e9 / (iSensorMode[index]->getFrameDurationRange().min())),
        iSensorMode[index]->getFrameDurationRange().min(),
        sensorModeAnalogGainRange.min(),
        sensorModeAnalogGainRange.max(),
        limitExposureTimeRange.min(),
        limitExposureTimeRange.max());
}

So, at initialization the min/max values are correct, but later when I set a new gain or exposure value through my application, the .max() function reports 0.000.

Additional information

I found a similar thread here:

Nvarguscamerasrc with gstreamer not reading max and min gain/exposure correctly from sensor in cpp lib – NVIDIA Developer Forums

However, there was no confirmed solution.

Also, if I run the following command from the terminal (even before the pipeline goes to PLAYING), the values are applied successfully:

gst-launch-1.0 nvarguscamerasrc sensor-id=0 gainrange="1.0 10.6" exposuretimerange="13000 683709000" ! \
'video/x-raw(memory:NVMM),width=1920,height=1080,framerate=30/1,format=NV12' ! nvvidconv ! nveglglessink -e

So it works from the command line, but not when I try to update the values programmatically during pipeline execution.

Question

  • Why does sensorModeAnalogGainRange.max() return 0.000 when called after initialization?

  • Is there a specific point in the pipeline lifecycle when the gain/exposure ranges can or cannot be updated?

  • What is the correct approach to update gainrange and exposuretimerange dynamically?

Any insights or solutions would be greatly appreciated.

5

You can download the nvarguscamerasrc source code for referencing if the gst-launch-1.0 command without problem.

Thanks

6

Hi ShaneCCC,

Thank you for the reply.

I have already downloaded and examined the nvarguscamerasrc.cpp source code from the Jetson Multimedia API (that’s exactly how I located the clamping logic and confirmed that sensorModeAnalogGainRange.max() is returning 0.000 when gainrange is set programmatically after the pipeline is running, even though the same function correctly reports ~10.625 at startup when printing the available sensor modes).

The command-line gst-launch-1.0 example works perfectly because the properties are applied before the Argus capture session is created and the sensor mode is selected.

is there any work around for this problem?

Thanks

7

Suppose it’s reasonable to apply get/set the value after sensor mode been selected.

Thanks

9

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