Data is collected at the edge and needs to be acted on at the edge, so it is no surprise that there is growing demand for AI inferencing capabilities to be integrated into edge devices. The responsibility for doing so will fall to device makers, OEMs, and ultimately embedded systems developers.
SolidRun is one of those embedded systems firms, and the company this week unveiled its Hummingboard 8P Edge AI single-board-computer (SBC), which combines processors from SolidRun partners NXP Semiconductors and Hailo Technologies into a product that gives developers a quicker, easier path to creating their own products incorporating edge AI inferencing.
Specifically, SolidRun’s Hummingboard development platform is being equipped with an NXP i.MX 8M Plus system-on-module and a Hailo-8 M.2 PCIe module, the latter one of the growth throng of co-processors that are designed to help product engineers to quickly add AI capabilities to new edge devices to support applications like computer vision, image and object recognition, surveillance, smart cities, IoT, and more. This announcements comes after Hailo in August expanded its Hailo-8 series of products.
The SolidRun SBC, which runs at 28 TOPS while drawing just 10 watts of power, also includes “out-of-the-box” support for a variety of popular AI frameworks, including TensorFlow, TensorFlow Lite, Keras, PyTorch, and ONNX. This versatility allows engineers to jumpstart their AI projects without the hassle of framework compatibility issues, the company said..
SolidRun said its SBC kit can connect two cameras, supporting Basler MIPI-CSI cameras (which the SBC already has been validated and verified for use with) or USB 3.0 cameras for computer vision applications, and potentially even AI analysis of streaming video. It can also be used with an HDMI/USB touchscreen display for interactive AI applications, the company said.
Yaron Ofer, Regional General Manager at Hailo, said, "The Hummingboard 8P Edge AI SBC from SolidRun represents a significant milestone in edge AI development solutions. With its exceptional performance and unparalleled energy efficiency, it empowers engineers to unlock the full potential of AI applications at the edge and harness the capabilities of our remarkably powerful Hailo-8 chip to drive innovation."
Sasha Strizhiver, embedded product line manager at SolidRun added, "Our vision has always been to simplify the complex world of embedded systems and empower engineers to innovate without constraints. Our new Hummingboard 8P Edge AI SBC encapsulates this vision, offering a total package that combines cutting-edge AI inference capabilities and broad industry support with ease of use. We believe in enabling our customers to focus solely on realizing their product vision, and with this kit, we've created an integrated solution that does just that."