Performance boost for AI inference in the low-power range
Summary
This capability also benefits point-of-sale (POS) applications, like fully automated vision-based checkout terminals, which replace traditional barcode scanner systems and reduce labour costs. These and countless other applications, including in-vehicle systems deployed in the construction, agriculture, and forestry sectors, as well as classic human-machine interfaces (HMIs), greatly benefit from the AI performance boost now provided by credit-card-sized SMARC modules. This is because the CPU’s up to eight E-cores and the Intel Gen 12 UHD GPU’s up to 32 execution units are identical to those in higher performance class processors based on the Gracemont microarchitecture, also supporting INT8 deep learning inference processing. The advantages of virtualisation are manifold: • It offers significant cyber security benefits (aligning with the Cyber Resilience Act) by reducing the risk of cross-system security breaches • Communication gateways, controllers, and user interfaces can operate in separate, independent instances, increasing cyber threat resilience • By consolidating several systems on a single piece of physical hardware, companies can save on hardware costs and increase efficiency • Code base complexity is minimised, while application scalability and portability are improved by dividing individual tasks granularly into separate software products and operating them in independent virtual machines instead of monolithic software In the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) field, virtualisation also enables creating dedicated virtual machines for maintenance, increasing system availability, and simplifying updates. Customers can purchase individually configured modules, for example, with Bosch Rexroth’s ctrlX OS and virtual machines for tasks such as real-time control, HMI, AI, IIoT data exchange, firewall, and maintenance/management functions, all ready for immediate deployment.