Advances in AI, the spread of IoT, and the accelerating digital transformation have resulted in an increasing need for sensing technology that extracts data from image sensors for recognition purposes, in order to provide new value and help solve business challenges. On the other hand, with the constantly increasing number of IoT devices acquiring and using images, such as smartphones, security cameras, home appliances, and automobiles, concerns have been raised regarding excessive reliance on cloud systems that serve all these multiple devices. The massive amount of data sent from IoT devices and increasing electric power consumption during the requisite system usage have become social issues. In addition, various other challenges also hinder the spread and expansion of sensing solutions, such as privacy concerns when personally identifiable data is stored in the cloud, latency in data transmission, data tampering and other security concerns, and the risk of service outage during emergencies.

Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation (“Sony”) announced that its AITRIOS edge AI sensing platform will launch in Japan, the U.S. and Europe starting from late 2021. Sony is now widely recruiting corporate partners, inviting their involvement in the development and implementation of AI camera-driven and other sensing solutions that will make the most of this platform. 

The AITRIOS platform makes it possible to streamline the development and implementation of AI camera-driven and other sensing solutions. The first step in the service entails providing a one-stop environment that offers various features that will make it easy for partnering solution providers such as AI developers, application developers, camera manufacturers/module integrators, and system integrators to build solutions spanning from edge to cloud.

Through this platform, Sony seeks to facilitate development of optimal systems, in which the edge and the cloud function in synergy, to support its partners in popularizing and expanding environmentally conscious sensing solutions using edge AI, and to deliver new value and help solve challenges faced by various industries.

Technologies which distribute the processing load across the cloud and IoT and other edge devices have begun to gain attention as a way to help solve these challenges. In contrast to cloud systems, which process data in a centralized fashion, carrying out the necessary processes on the edge reduces the volume of data sent to and processed within the cloud, thereby reducing electric power consumption and delay in data transmission. This also delivers a variety of other advantages, including positive implications for privacy, improved security by not connecting to the cloud and its many interfaces, and service continuity thanks to the capability to complete processes on the edge.

In May 2020, Sony announced the release of a new model of intelligent vision sensor, the IMX500, the world’s first image sensors to be equipped with AI processing functionality. This sensor uses a stacked configuration consisting of a pixel chip and a logic chip, and is equipped with Sony’s original digital signal processor (DSP) mounted on the logic chip. This enables AI processing on the image sensor, the edge-most device, which serves as the entry point for image data. This design allows for high-speed AI processing and metadata output on the sensor itself, and has fueled sensor AI-driven sensing solutions in a variety of industries.

sensors. According to Sony research (as of announcement on May 14, 2020).