Qualcomm said the deal enables more than 170,000 developers to create, deploy and monitor AI models for edge applications and hardware
Qualcomm Technologies took to Embedded World Germany to announce it has agreed to acquire EdgeImpulse, which the vendor said will complement its strategic approach to IoT transformation, which includes a comprehensive chipset roadmap, unified software architecture, a suite of services, developer resources, ecosystem partners, comprehensive solutions and a bunch of IoT blueprints.
Widespread adoption of AI in IoT solutions is driven by the ability to augment or automate workflows through rapid data collection, AI-enabled analysis and enhanced decision-making.
In 2019, Jan Jongboom and Zach Shelby set out to democratise machine learning on edge compute for millions of developers. Recognising that the compute capabilities of microcontrollers had grown to the point where they were able to run domain specific AI models directly onboard, the two realised there were an endless number of use cases that would benefit from moving AI from the cloud to the edge. But there was a missing piece: a way to easily build, optimise, and deploy edge and domain-specific AI models onto these devices.
They launched Edge Impulse, an end-to-end platform that streamlines the edge AI workflow. They began developing a tool that automates data collection, simplifies model training, provides advanced optimisation tools, and offers one-click deployment to many types of hardware, from MCUs to CPUs, GPUs, and NPUs.
The universality of the platform has attracted collaborations with numerous hardware, cloud, and system integration vendors. More importantly, it has also brought together a community of 170,000 developers and growing.
Low-code solution
Today, Edge Impulse’s end-to-end edge AI platform enables developers to easily create, deploy, and monitor AI models on a wide array of edge devices – with support for varied microcontrollers and processors featuring AI accelerators from multiple semiconductor providers. The development platform includes a comprehensive set of tools and features for data collection and preparation, model training, deployment and monitoring – all with an easy-to-use, user-friendly interface requiring little or no code at all.
Developers can utilise Edge Impulse’s platform to build solutions for a wide range of applications such as asset tracking and monitoring, manufacturing, anomaly detection, and predictive maintenance systems – using various AI capabilities including computer vision, time-series data, audio events and speech recognition.
Edge Impulse currently supports Dragonwing QCS6490 and QCS5430 processors and is scheduled to add support for additional Dragonwing processors for industrial and embedded IoT applications.
In a blog post, Zach Shelby said that by integrating with Qualcomm, Edge Impulse developers will have the ability to target Dragonwing platforms, which feature superior AI inferencing, computer vision, graphics and processing capabilities. He added that Edge Impulse will add an important part to Qualcomm’s strategic approach to IoT. Firstly, developers can go from data preparation and AI experimentation to optimising and deploying AI models on a wide range of edge hardware, including Dragonwing processors.
Secondly, they can accelerate the creation of high-performance IoT devices for enterprise and industrial applications. Leverage the new Edge Impulse integration with the Qualcomm AI Hub to profile and improve performance of models targeting Qualcomm Technologies’ hardware.
Strategic approach to IoT
“We are thrilled about the opportunity to significantly enhance our IoT offerings with Edge Impulse’s advanced AI-powered end-to-end platform that will complement our strategic approach to IoT transformation,” said Qualcomm group general manager, automotive, industrial and embedded IoT, and cloud computing, Nakul Duggal (above). “We anticipate that this acquisition will strengthen our leadership in AI and developer enablement, enhancing our ability to provide comprehensive technology for critical sectors such as retail, security, energy and utilities, supply chain management, and asset management.
“IoT opens the door for a myriad of opportunities, and success is about building real-world solutions, enabling developers and enterprises with AI capabilities to extract intelligence from data, and providing them with the tools to build the applications and services that will power the digital transformation of industries,” he said.
Since last year, Qualcomm said it has adapted its strategy to meet the requirements of various IoT segments providing integrated solutions that combine services, software, and hardware, designed to scale across multiple verticals, including consumer, security, healthcare, retail, energy and enterprise.
Qualcomm’s IoT approach now includes application processors and connectivity chips designed for various industry needs, a unified software architecture for efficiency, security, and reduced development costs and cloud-based SaaS offerings to support industrial and embedded applications. It also now provides hardware and software development kits for IoT developers and collaborates with distributors, hardware and software vendors, design centers, system integrators, ODMs, and OEMs.
The company also develops custom-built IoT solutions with enterprise and industrial customers and offers curated blueprints that combine technologies and partnerships tailored to different industries.
