All mini cam models from the xiMU family have the same housing format on the front of just 15 x 15 mm and can be equipped with S-mount lenses (M12) or C-mount by attaching a simple adapter. The MU181 model has two versions of the rear panel, one with a USB Type-C connector and the other with a flexible ribbon cable (FFC), making it suitable for embedded systems or multi-camera setups.

These USB3 cameras can be easily synced and triggered via GPIO while the bus is powered via USB without the need for additional cables. As with all xiMU models, the power consumption remains exceptionally low at 1.5 watts. Together with the compact size and the compact weight of only 5g, these cameras are ideal candidates for portable or mobile applications in UAVs or other types of drones.

The free Ximea API / SDK supports Windows, MacOS and allows the cameras to be used with various options from NVIDIA Jetson cards running on Linux, further minimizing the system footprint.