Intel RealSense D435i cameras compatibility issues with Jetson Orin Nano - VTAstrobotics/Documentation GitHub Wiki

Troubleshooting Intel RealSense D435i on Jetson Orin Nano

Overview This document outlines the troubleshooting process, and the challenges encountered while setting up Intel RealSense D435i cameras on the Jetson Orin Nano. The primary issues relate to compatibility with Jetpack 6.0 and permission errors when running ROS2 RealSense nodes. Below is a summary of steps taken, errors encountered, and the potential solutions identified.

1. Installed the MIPI Platform for Jetson 6.0

-Goal: Check for compatibility with the camera drivers.

-Result: The installation did not solve the issue, as the camera was still not detected.

-We explored several forum posts to find similar cases, but even after reinstalling the MIPI platform, the problem persisted.

-Reference: https://github.com/IntelRealSense/realsense_mipi_platform_driver

2. Reinstalled librealsense and RealSense Viewer

Commands Used:

-sudo apt-get remove librealsense2

-sudo apt-get install librealsense2-utils

-Goal: Ensure the RealSense drivers and utilities were correctly installed.

-Result: The reinstallation did not resolve the issue. The camera remained undetected.

3. Tried Switching to Another Jetson Device (Nvidia Orin Nano to Jetson Nano)

-Goal: Determine if the issue was specific to a particular Jetson Nano unit.

-Result: Switching Jetsons had no effect—the problem persisted on both devices.

4. Attempted Isaac ROS Setup

-Goal: Explore whether Isaac ROS (an alternative to ROS2) could resolve the problem.

-Result: Isaac ROS was incompatible with the firmware version on the Jetson Orin Nano.

-This approach was abandoned due to version mismatches.

-Reference: https://nvidia-isaac-ros.github.io/getting_started/

5. Tested the Camera on an Intel NUC

-Goal: Verify that the camera itself was functioning properly.

-Result: The RealSense D435i worked perfectly on the Intel NUC, confirming that the hardware was not defective.

6. Identified Permission Issue Using realsense-viewer instead of just realsense-viewer

-Solution: Running the RealSense Viewer with sudo resolved the detection issue.

-sudo realsense-viewer

-Forum Reference: [GitHub Issue #12566] (https://github.com/IntelRealSense/librealsense/issues/12566)

-Explanation: The camera was not launching due to a permission error. Running the viewer with elevated privileges allowed the camera to work, indicating that permission issues are also affecting the ROS2 node.

7. Goal: Added Udev Rules for RealSense Cameras:

-Reference: https://github.com/grayson-arendt/Lunabotics-2025/tree/master/scripts/config

-Result: The issue still persisted "No camera devices found".