Intelligent embedded systems have been used in real world applications for many years; predicting failures on factory floors; empowering personalised medical devices; and even driving smart consumer products.
What’s accelerating the adoption is a new generation of processing devices deploying new architectures with AI accelerators. Some of these are trickling down from the much larger devices used in data centres, while others are radically new architectures optimised for AI. Some of these mimic the brain: neuromorphic processors. Others are designed to bring the memory and processor together on a single die to reduce latency and power consumption.
For applications that demand fast decisions, offline functionality, or strict data sovereignty, an edge computer has distinct advantages over cloud-based systems. This has always been the case when undertaking local processing, but the latest AI-enhanced devices bring increased capability and lower power consumption.
Power has long been one of the most important considerations when designing handheld devices for use in industrial, consumer, and medical applications, or for remote monitoring and communications systems. Edge AI is advancing the art of the possible in power constrained computing environments.
While the paradigm may be shifting, what hasn’t changed is that development of new products and systems, even those with edge AI capabilities, must be driven by clear ROI-driven applications.
“Our development of Edge AI systems, underpinned by our partnerships with chip vendors, continue to be based on fully understanding the problem before designing a solution.”
A fundamental difference between Edge AI and conventional systems is the need for high quality data to train the AI model; sometimes we will need to take a step back and develop a system capable of collecting that data on which we train the model. That requires holistic end-to-end knowledge of the problem at hand, reinforced by experience and honed by industry knowledge.
There is real urgency behind the adoption of AI targeted architectures, and those not adopting it risk falling behind. At 42T, we specialise in creating production-ready Edge AI systems, building on our experience developing resilient intelligent systems. If you’re looking to get started on your Edge AI journey, we can help.