Vision AppKit Is the World's Smallest Edge AI Camera Development Platform

Alif Semiconductor, in partnership with Telit Cinterion, has announced an edge AI camera reference design at CES 2024. The pair calls the Vision AppKit "postage stamp-sized" and "the world's smallest" board with LTE-M, Wi-Fi, BLE, and a microcontroller that fuses traditional logic with neural coprocessors.

The microcontroller (MCU) in the Vision AppKit is the Ensemble E3 from Alif Semiconductor. It blends two Arm Cortex-M55 real-time MCU cores with two Arm Ethos-U55 micro neural processing units (microNPUs). Alif designed the chips with security features like a secure enclave, root-of-trust, and device integrity protection. Their aiPM technology reduces power consumption and extends battery life by only powering active sections of the chip. For example, a smart IoT device can turn off unused MCU or microNPU cores. This combination accelerates AI/ML tasks on edge AI devices like face/object detection and image classification while operating at what Alif says is at least two orders of magnitude less power consumption than other edge AI processors.

Two Telit Cinterion modules provide wireless connectivity. A WE310F54 module supports Wi-Fi 4 (b/g/n) and Bluetooth Low Energy 5.0. Or a ME310 module adds cellular access to LTE CAT-M networks. Both modules have power-saving features. Since the modules are pin-compatible, it appears you can choose either for the Vision AppKit reference design.

The Vision AppKit uses an onsemi MT9M114 720p digital image sensor. Using the size of the WE310 module as a guide, we estimate that the board is approximately 31 x 38 millimeters. It also has a USB-C interface and a header for a LiPo battery.

No details on pricing or availability have been announced yet. You can find some additional information in the joint Vision AppKit press release. Or, if you are at CES 2024, visit either Alif's or Telit Cinterion's booth.