DFRobot Launches Development Board for Edge Computing and AI Based on Intel Processors

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DFRobot Launches Development Board for Edge Computing and AI Based on Intel Processors

“The new Tremont core, iGPU, and Intel 7 process of the Intel® processor have significantly improved the performance of the N5105 compared to the previous generation. Under the same power consumption level, it is now possible to develop and run more complex projects, including some real-time rendered 3D interactive effects that can run smoothly. For small-sized development boards like the LattePanda 3 Delta, there is a noticeable improvement in performance.”

— Yu Youliang

DFRobot Product Manager

Artificial intelligence technology, as one of the most advanced productive forces in the “next few decades,” is gradually penetrating into various industries, driving the rapid development of the digital economy. It is expected that the compound annual growth rate of AI-related solution markets will remain at 65% over the next decade, reaching trillions by 2027. As an important new infrastructure in the digital economy era, the level of development of artificial intelligence infrastructure has become one of the important indicators for measuring a country’s scientific and technological innovation capabilities.

The white paper believes:

▶ For the global artificial intelligence industry, its core asset is high-quality talent, and the scale, structure, and quality of artificial intelligence talent training in various countries will determine the future competitive landscape in the field of artificial intelligence.

▶ Comprehensive coverage from K12 to higher education to social developers, reconstructing the talent training system for artificial intelligence across various industries has become a strategic focus for various countries. In April 2018, the Ministry of Education of China issued the “Action Plan for AI Innovation in Higher Education Institutions,” proposing to increase the intensity of AI talent training, build a multi-level education system for AI, and introduce AI popular education in primary and secondary schools, marking that domestic AI education has received high attention from schools, enterprises, and governments, and the market will usher in a period of rapid growth. At the same time, more and more developers will also turn their attention to learning in the AI field.

Demand and challenges coexist

Using open-source hardware products as a foundation has become an important technological trend globally. Hardware openness usually refers to the free publication of schematics, bill of materials, and related source code files, allowing developers and companies of varying levels to design, manufacture, and produce devices based on the schematics and bill of materials. Open-source hardware mainly has the following characteristics:

DFRobot Launches Development Board for Edge Computing and AI Based on Intel Processors

Easy to use

Modular hardware design and open technical documentation greatly reduce the entry barrier for hardware. For software developers or students lacking hardware knowledge, it is also easier to quickly utilize the underlying hardware functions for solution development.

DFRobot Launches Development Board for Edge Computing and AI Based on Intel Processors

Flexible customization

Open-source hardware typically uses standardized modules and interfaces, including the design of peripheral devices and driver software, which also follow corresponding standards, making hardware-level customization and expansion more flexible and effectively adapting to specific application scenario needs.

DFRobot Launches Development Board for Edge Computing and AI Based on Intel Processors

Low cost

The open technical design documents and bill of materials can effectively reduce hardware design and manufacturing costs, thereby further lowering solution development costs and the overall solution’s TCO (Total Cost of Ownership).

DFRobot Launches Development Board for Edge Computing and AI Based on Intel Processors

Community support

The open-source hardware community provides rich technical support, including documentation, discussion forums, and Q&A communities, which can further lower the development threshold and continuously iterate and optimize the functionality and reliability of open-source hardware.

Based on these advantages, for makers, enterprise developers, or educational solution providers focused on artificial intelligence technology, combining open-source hardware, innovative solutions, technology education, and artificial intelligence has become an important direction for future development, but it also poses new demands and challenges for open-source hardware:

Innovative applications require increasingly high general computing power

As various innovative technologies and application scenarios emerge and become popular, the demand for CPU general computing power has also increased. For example, in IoT applications, the types of sensors and data density are constantly growing, requiring CPUs to have higher clock speeds and data processing capabilities.

Deep learning-based AI loads pose challenges to

hardware costs and power consumption

Traditional CPU architectures are not suitable for the high-density parallel computation required by deep learning model inference workloads. To achieve lower latency inference, it often requires adding additional acceleration cards (such as dedicated GPUs) to the system for deep learning inference. However, at the same time, additional acceleration cards will lead to increased costs and energy consumption.

Technology education scenarios for beginners require

more friendly and convenient development experiences

Traditional open-source hardware usually adopts specific embedded operating systems and programming languages, requiring users to develop and compile on personal computers before transferring to the open-source hardware for deployment. For non-embedded developers or beginner students, there is a demand for more user-friendly operating systems, interactive interfaces, development environments, and deployment testing processes.

Diverse application scenarios

1

LattePanda 3 Delta based on Intel® processors

Aiming at the globalization trend of open-source hardware and artificial intelligence technology, DFRobot has launched the LattePanda 3 Delta based on Intel® processors. LattePanda 3 Delta is a single-board computer that supports a complete Windows operating system. While maintaining the usual pocket size of LattePanda, its thickness is only 16mm, and its CPU performance is improved by 2 times compared to the previous generation, with GPU performance increased by 3 times. Thanks to such powerful performance, LattePanda 3 Delta can be used to easily build edge computing, image recognition, and other projects. After nearly 8 years of accumulation and development, LattePanda has been widely used by global makers and developers and has also penetrated into more and more industrial fields.

With Intel’s low-power edge AI scenario software and hardware technology, LattePanda 3 Delta offers the following significant advantages:

🔵 Equipped with the next-generation Intel® processor, leveraging advanced processes and architectures, this processor can provide excellent performance at low power consumption. While meeting computing power requirements, it supports compact hardware design and longer battery life, suitable for integration into various embedded systems.

🔵 Using integrated graphics to accelerate AI inference, significantly improving inference speed compared to CPUs, without the need for additional GPUs or NPUs. This supports AI loads at low cost, low power consumption, and small size. Combined with the OpenVINO™ toolkit, developers can quickly deploy various AI inferences on the LattePanda 3 Delta development board and achieve optimized performance.

🔵 Onboard ATmega32U4 coprocessor, providing rich GPIO interfaces. Combined with the rich peripheral modules and development libraries provided by DFRobot for the LattePanda product line, developers can easily build various systems and call control interfaces.

🔵 Running a complete version of the Windows system supports a wider software ecosystem. Software that can run on ordinary computers can also run smoothly on the LattePanda 3 Delta motherboard, making debugging, porting, and deploying software more convenient.

🔵 Providing mature documentation, toolchains, and examples, making the development process simpler.

2

Autonomous driving car based on LattePanda 3 Delta

This year, autonomous driving cars have become a research hotspot for the application of artificial intelligence technology. Through cameras and various sensors providing information and deep learning-based computer vision algorithms, autonomous driving systems can obtain information about various obstacles, traffic signs, and drivable areas that appear in the car’s field of vision.

Based on the Donkey Car open-source project, the Mushroom Cloud Maker Space has incubated and developed the Drifting Donkey community in China, focusing on AI education and sports platforms, serving AI geeks and RC car enthusiasts. Based on the LattePanda 3 Delta as the core single-board computer, the Drifting Donkey community has launched the latest generation DonkeyDrift X2. Benefiting from the significantly improved CPU performance and AI inference capability of the N5105, this DonkeyDrift X2 can achieve rapid recognition and response without the design of additional acceleration cards or AI modules, greatly enhancing the stability and smoothness of autonomous driving.

3

Simplified live broadcast deployment based on LattePanda 3 Delta

Currently, with the popularization of live broadcasting technology, the demand for live broadcasting equipment is also increasing. Ordinary computers or Mini PCs are relatively large, inconvenient to move or adjust positions, and are not suitable for flexible deployment in live broadcast rooms. The LattePanda 3 Delta, with its compact size and powerful performance, can effectively help locate all equipment on-site, measure distances, and obtain camera and lens source data, achieving excellent and smooth live broadcast effects that can meet the needs of the live broadcast industry. Compared to ordinary computers and general single-board computers, the LP development board has the following advantages:

💠 Strong performance: Equipped with the Intel® Celeron® N5105 processor, it can ensure high synchronization of data, achieving consistent depth of field, perspective, and exposure, improving live broadcast quality. The integrated graphics performance is strong, supporting the encoding and output of 2 channels of 4K 60Hz video, achieving higher quality live broadcasts.

💠 Good compatibility: Supports running a complete Windows system, compatible with most media playback and display software, facilitating the use and connection of live broadcast equipment.

💠 Rich interfaces: Supports connecting various devices and sensors, can directly obtain lens and camera source data from the machine, plug and play, very convenient. It reserves a slot for 4G/5G module cards, eliminating the reliance on Wi-Fi networks, and device location is no longer limited.

💠 Compact and portable: Its size is only that of a pocket, making it easy to place on photographic equipment. Simply adding a support and a shell makes it easy to move.

4

Smart terminal device based on LattePanda 3 Delta and 15.6″ Type-C

touch screen

In the context of the Internet of Everything, smart terminal devices are important carriers of IoT and AI. As an important tool for human-computer interaction, they are increasingly applied in industries such as office, medical, and self-service, such as facial recognition visitor machines, medical carts, and self-service payment machines. Such integrated devices often have complex functions and require core development boards with good performance in various aspects and large displays that are easy to operate to present a good human-computer interaction experience.

LattePanda 3 Delta’s excellent performance and compact size make it have the following advantages as a development board for such smart terminal devices:

🔀 High performance: LattePanda 3 Delta is equipped with a powerful Intel Celeron N5105 processor and 8GB RAM, providing high-speed computing power and smooth running experience, enhancing user experience when operating smart terminal devices.

🔀 Multifunctional: LattePanda 3 Delta supports various peripherals, such as touch screens, cameras, solid-state drives, etc., which can meet the functional requirements of smart terminal devices in various human-computer interaction scenarios.

🔀 Easy to develop: Since LattePanda 3 Delta is based on open-source hardware and software, supporting Windows and Linux operating systems, device manufacturers can customize and modify according to project requirements, making secondary development easy.

The same 15.6″ Type-C touch screen in

smart terminal devices has the following advantages:

⏩ Good display effect: 1920×1080 high resolution, 15.6-inch large size, has a sufficiently large display area and high-definition display effect, meeting the scene requirements of smart terminal devices.

⏩ Simple connection: The Type-C touch screen only needs one cable to connect to the Type-C interface of the LattePanda 3 Delta, supporting the transmission of audio, video, and touch data simultaneously, while providing reverse power to the LattePanda 3 Delta. This brings convenience to the installation and maintenance of smart terminal devices.

Looking to the future, Intel will continue to deepen its cooperation with DFRobot, aiming to leverage Intel’s advanced hardware and software technology and next-generation chip solutions, combined with DFRobot’s understanding and product strength in open-source hardware, developers, and scientific education, to further create a richer and more powerful LattePanda product line. Intel and DFRobot will work together to provide more innovative and practical solutions for global open-source hardware enthusiasts, AI and IoT developers, scientific education, and industrial clients, further promoting the development of IoT and AI technology.

DFRobot Launches Development Board for Edge Computing and AI Based on Intel Processors

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