GreenWave 发布面向边缘侧人工智能应用的新一代超低功耗IOT应用处理器GAP9

对比上一代产品GAP8，功耗进一步降低了5倍，进一步丰富了GreenWave的边缘侧IoT应用处理器家族。

GreenWave一家无晶圆厂半导体创业公司(fabless semiconductor startup)，专注于设计颠覆性的面向边缘侧感知设备人工智能处理的(AI processing in sensing devices at the very edge)，超低功耗嵌入式解决方案。

GreenWave于近期发布其IoT应用处理器家族GAP的新一代处理器 - GAP9。GAP9集成了新的增强架构设计，以及业内领先的Global Foundries 22nm FDX半导体工艺(semiconductor process)，带来峰值簇内存带宽高达41.6GB/SEC以及高达50 GOPS的计算能力，更重要的是总体功耗(overall power consumption)仅为50mW。

GAP9帮助客户为电池驱动的或能量收割的设备(energy harvesting devices)，如智能建筑的IoT传感器，消费级或医用级穿戴设备(consumer and medical wearable devices)，增加嵌入式机器学习和信号处理能力。

关于GAP9的详细信息请参考 -

GAP9 is built on the same GAP architectural attributes as GAP8. GAP9 adds support for floating-point arithmetic across all cores based on an innovative transprecision floating-point unit capable of handling floating-point numbers in 8, 16, and 32-bit precision with support for vectorization. GAP9 also extends GAP8’s support for fixed-point arithmetic with support for vectorized 4-bit and 2-bit operations. This positions GAP9 as the ideal platform for applications exploiting deep levels of quantization to deliver more energy efficiency while simplifying porting of existing floating-point signal processing libraries.

GAP9 incorporates bi-directional multichannel, synchronized digital audio interfaces making it a perfect fit for sophisticated wearable audio products. It also incorporates both CSI2 and parallel camera interfaces allowing the use of low resolution, low power camera for scene analysis and then extract a region of interest from high-resolution, higher power camera for analysis of scene details.

GAP9 handles sophisticated neural networks such as MobileNet V1 with ease processing a 160 x 160 image with a channel scaling of 0.25 in just 12ms with a power consumption of 806μW/frame/second. GAP9 provides a 20 times increase of effective memory bandwidth compared to GAP8, enabling significant improvements in detection accuracy by simultaneously analysing streams of data from multiple different sensors such as images, sounds, and radar.

GAP9 incorporates additional security features protecting device makers firmware and models while also protecting devices from tampering including hardware support for AES128/256 cryptography and a Physically Unclonable Function (PUF) unit that allows devices to be uniquely and securely identified.

All of the enhancements delivered in the GAP SDK since the introduction of GAP8 enable immediate benefit to GAP9. This includes the GAP AutoTiler, allowing automatic code generation for neural network graphs often reducing memory movement down to below 1.2 times the theoretical minimum and GAPFlow, a series of tools for automating the conversion of neural networks from training packages such as Google TensorFlow. Combined with out of the box, open-source, network implementations such as a full, Open Source Face Identification implementation, the GAPFlow toolset reduces implementation time from months to days.

GreenWaves will be showcasing GAP9 and GAP IoT Application Processor solutions at the RISC-V Summit at the San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California from the 10th – 12th December 2019.

About GreenWaves Technologies

GreenWaves Technologies is a fabless semiconductor startup designing disruptive ultra-low power embedded solutions for image, sound, and vibration AI processing in sensing devices. GreenWaves was founded in 2014 with the mission of revolutionizing the market for intelligent sensors and devices with ultra-low energy and cost-efficient solutions. GreenWaves’ GAP8 is the industry’s first ultra-low power processor enabling battery operated artificial intelligence (AI) in Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The company is headquartered just outside Grenoble, France. To learn more, visit www.greenwaves-technologies.com.