Hi,
Your project appeals to me due to its challenging nature. I enjoy solving puzzles and doing some reverse engineering just for fun, but being even paid for it is simply fantastic.
I have quickly looked through the camera sensor spec and have some preliminary hypotheses for the reason of the picture you are seeing. I also wonder if you need a driver that can fully utilize all features of the sensor, or you will operate it in a single mode (or a limited set of modes) and only need to be able to decode the raw video output by the sensor.
My preliminary plan to attack this project without having physical access to the hardware is the following:
1. Capture several fragments of the data stream sent by the sensor for different optical inputs (complete darkness, full illumination by stable monochromatic light, blinking at a known frequency, etc).
2. Analyze and decode the captured data on my computer, compare it with other formats that can be readily handled by existing drivers.
3. Proceed depending on the findings from the previous item.
Successful completion of this project will make me feel proud of myself. I don't even want to think that I may fail at it.
Best regards,
Leon