AI on the Edge:

With sense and reason – and a deep understanding of the requirements in the development of innovative applications for relevant future markets. This is how the experts at Rutronik System Solutions are working on the further development of existing base and adapter boards, as well as their integration into application-oriented demonstrations. The latest example of this is an AI control system with gesture recognition using RAB3 radar and keyword recognition based on Infineon's PSOCTM Edge E84. This microcontroller enables decentralized calculation of neural networks “on the edge”, thus increasing the speed, stability and security of the developed system.

Accordingly, the PSOCTM Edge E84 and the associated evaluation kit form the core – the “brain” – of the demo designed by Rutronik System Solutions. Due to the enormous volume of data that inevitably needs to be processed in AI applications, these usually use cloud servers for the calculations. The integration of the PSOCTM Edge E84 now brings this processing power from the cloud to the edge, creating a closed system. This capability, combined with state-of-the-art security features such as the lockstep-secured enclave in a low-power, always-on domain, the Infineon Edge Protect Category 4 and the standard Trusted Firmware-M activation and Mbed-TLS for crypto operations, ensures maximum security.

The Arm® Cortex®-M microcontrollers of the PSOC™ Edge E84 series offer high-performance, secure MCUs with low power consumption and hardware-supported ML acceleration. The PSOCTM Edge devices are based on the powerful Cortex-M55, including Helium DSP support in combination with Arm Ethos-U55, as well as a Cortex-M33 with Infineon's ultra-low-power NNLite hardware accelerator, which powers neural networks in machine learning and AI applications.

In addition, the PSOC™ Edge E84 features always-on acoustic activity detection, which enables HMI operation with low active and standby power consumption, thus extending the battery life of battery-powered products. For the keyword demo, these are connected to digital microphones from Infineon, effectively acting as the “ears” for near real-time voice control of the motor.

The demo's motor control is implemented via an eight-pole BLDC motor with integrated HALL sensors, also from Infineon. This runs in parallel to the processes for speech recognition and gesture control on the same microcontroller.

Rutronik System Solutions complements the demo with a 1024 x 600 IPS TFT LCD touch display from Raystar, which is optimally supported by Infineon's PSOC™ Edge E84 thanks to its 2.5D graphics processing unit with low power consumption and the display controller with MIPI-DSI/DBI interface (up to 1024 x 768).