⚡ A dual GMSL2 camera HAT takes the Raspberry Pi 5 into industrial territory

BE-IIS (Brechel Electronic-Industrial Interface Systems) has released a dual GMSL2 camera HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5, built on Analog Devices' MAX96716A deserializer: two remote cameras connect over FAKRA coaxial links at up to 6 Gbps each, and the HAT presents them on the Pi's two CSI-2 interfaces, CNX Software explains. Validation used two Sony IMX708 12 MP modules (the ones in the Camera Module 3) at 2304 × 1296 RAW10, two CSI-2 lanes per camera, tested over 10-metre cables.

Technical reminder: GMSL2 is the serialized interface used by automotive cameras and industrial vision — a robust coaxial or STP link, low latency, able to carry power over the coax (PoC, selectable here from 5 to 24 V). By opening it to the Pi 5, the HAT turns the board into a long-range vision head for robotics, test vehicles and inspection without a dedicated embedded PC.

The most carefully engineered part is software integration: Philipp Brechel told CNX Software the system runs on the stock Raspberry Pi OS Linux kernel with no rebuild — drivers install via a bash script and standard tools such as rpicam-hello just work. On the camera side you do need a MAX96717 serializer board (BE-IIS-GMSL2-SER) to connect a standard CSI module to the coaxial link.

This is one more episode in the industrialization of the Raspberry Pi platform (M.2 boards, DIN-rail enclosures, CAN HATs…), eating into segments normally reserved for far more expensive embedded boards. Source: CNX Software — Raspberry Pi 5 gets dual GMSL2 Camera HAT