Edge AI and Vision Alliance

All Things Computer and Machine Vision: Global Market Trends

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 14:29:43 GMT

In 2019, the global market for computer vision and machine vision in everyday life was worth $14.9 billion.

According to a new report by BCC Research, Computer Vision and Machine Vision in Everyday Life, the market will reach $26 billion by 2024, indicating a compound annual growth rate of 11.7%.

Key market players include: AccuSentry, Amazon Web Services, Keyence Corp and Vision and Control Systems.

Get additional intel into the computer vision and machine vision market by downloading a complimentary chapter of this report.

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MIPI Camera and Driver for NVIDIA Developer Kit

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 14:15:17 GMT

The VC MIPI starter pack including camera, cable, and driver for the NVIDIA Jetson Nano Developer Kit makes embedded vision development as easy as can be

August 5, 2020 – Vision Components has added a new starter pack to its MIPI product range for embedded vision projects: users simply connect the camera module and MIPI cable to their NVIDIA Jetson Nano Developer Kit, and they are ready set to start application development. Additional accessories are included, notably the necessary driver, allowing users to save development time and costs. Customers have the free choice of sensor from the largest available range of machine vision sensors with a MIPI interface. Currently, sensor resolutions up to 20 megapixels are available. The starter pack also includes a lens holder (C/CS-mount or S-mount) and a shielded 200-mm FPC cable.

Vision Components developed the cables specifically for the MIPI camera modules, ensuring noise-free data transmission and high bandwidths. The German company provides the driver and source code free of charge, allowing users to make their own adjustments. Prices for the starter pack start at 86.98 euros plus VAT (for example: VC MIPI OV9281, S-mount lens holder, FPC MIPI cable). NVIDIA Jetson Nano is a compact computer for embedded projects utilizing AI. In combination with the VC MIPI starter pack with guaranteed long-term availability, it is ideal for vision applications such as image classification and object detection.

About Vision Components

Vision Components is a leading international manufacturer of embedded vision systems. The freely programmable cameras with powerful onboard CPUs perform image processing tasks on their own without the need for an additional computer. Vision Components offers OEMs versatile Linux-based embedded systems for 2D and 3D image processing, supplied as board cameras or in protective casings. These are complemented by a growing range of ultracompact MIPI camera boards, which connect to a variety of different CPU boards. In addition, Vision Components offers software libraries and develops customized solutions on request. The team of experts can draw on extensive knowledge and over 20 years of experience with imaging applications.

The company based in Ettlingen in southwestern Germany was founded in 1996 by Michael Engel, the inventor of the first industrial-grade intelligent camera. More world premieres followed, including the world’s first intelligent vision sensors and the first-ever embedded 3D laser profiler. Today, Vision Components has sales offices in the United States and Japan and works with local partners in over 25 countries to provide consistent customer focus and readily available expertise throughout the world.

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IDS Extends Selection of Automatically Focusable Board-level Cameras

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 13:20:15 GMT

Sharp images even with varying object distances

ision development as easy as can be

August 5, 2020 – Thanks to their practical autofocus function, uEye LE AF industrial cameras deliver perfectly focused images even with frequently changing object distances. IDS Imaging Development Systems GmbH now offers additional camera variants with 2.1 and 3.1 MP Sony sensors which provide more flexibility in terms of application design and camera integration. For the first time, the company also offers models with upright USB Type-C alignment in this product family.

In addition to the previously available uEye LE AF cameras with 6.4 MP (IMX178, 58 fps) and 18.1 MP (AR1820HS, 20 fps) sensors, customers can now also purchase models with 2.1 (IMX290, 120 fps) or 3.1 MP (IMX265, 80 fps). All cameras feature a USB 3.1 Gen 1 interface, USB Power Delivery – which can be used, for example, to power an LED light source or a photoelectric sensor – and allow the use and control of liquid lenses.

The autofocus function ensures sharp images in the blink of an eye, even if the lens is not physically accessible or if the distance between the lens and the object changes frequently. The board-level cameras are therefore particularly well-suited for applications in fields such as logistics (e.g. for parcel acceptance and sorting) or traffic monitoring. Due to their compact design with dimensions of only 36 x 36 x 20 mm they also prove their strengths in embedded vision systems. This means that they are also interesting for integration into small medical or industrial devices.

Further information:

https://en.ids-imaging.com/store/products/cameras/ids-interface/usb-3.1-gen.- 1/ids-family/le/ids-camoptions/autofocus.html

About IDS Imaging Development Systems GmbH

The industrial camera manufacturer IDS Imaging Development Systems GmbH develops high- performance, easy-to-use USB, GigE and 3D cameras with a wide spectrum of sensors and variants. The almost unlimited range of applications covers multiple non-industrial and industrial sectors in the field of equipment, plant and mechanical engineering. In addition to the successful CMOS cameras, the company expands its portfolio with vision app-based, intelligent cameras. The novel image processing platform IDS NXT is freely programmable and extremely versatile.

Since its foundation in 1997 as a two-man company, IDS has developed into an independent, ISO-certified family business with more than 300 employees. The headquarters in Obersulm, Germany, is both a development and production site. With branches in the USA, Japan, South Korea and UK as well as other offices, IDS is represented internationally.

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Edge AI and Vision Insights: August 5, 2020 Edition

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 08:00:51 GMT

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Dear Colleague,

Intel, a Premier Sponsor of the upcoming Embedded Vision Summit, will be delivering three workshops during the event:

“Using the Intel Distribution of the OpenVINO Toolkit for Deploying Accelerated Deep Learning Applications,” on Friday, September 18 from 9:00 am – 1:30 pm PT
“Edge AI for Retail,” on Monday, September 21 from 9:00 am – 1:30 pm PT
“Edge AI for Industrial,” on Wednesday, September 23 from 9:00 am – 1:30 pm PT

Check out the technology workshops page on the Summit website for more information and online registration on these three workshops, along with the workshop “Beyond 2020—Vision SoCs for the Edge” from Synopsys. And while you’re there, be sure to also register for the Embedded Vision Summit, taking place online September 15-25!

On August 20, 2020, Jeff Bier, founder of the Edge AI and Vision Alliance, will present two sessions of a free one-hour webinar, “Key Trends in the Deployment of Edge AI and Computer Vision”. The first session will take place at 9 am PT (noon ET), timed for attendees in Europe and the Americas. The second session, at 6 pm PT (9 am China Standard Time on August 21), is timed for attendees in Asia. With so much happening in edge AI and computer vision applications and technology, and happening so fast, it can be difficult to see the big picture. This webinar from the Alliance will examine the four most important trends that are fueling the proliferation of edge AI and vision applications and influencing the future of the industry:

Deep learning – including a focus on the key challenges of obtaining sufficient training data and managing workflows.
Streamlining edge development – thanks to cloud computing and higher levels of abstraction in both hardware and software, it is now much easier than ever before for developers to implement AI and vision capabilities in edge devices.
Fast, cheap, energy-efficient processors – massive investment in specialized processors is paying off, delivering 1000x improvements in performance and efficiency, enabling AI and vision to be deployed even in very cost- and energy-constrained applications at the edge.
New sensors – the introduction of new 3D optical, thermal, neuromorphic and other advanced sensor technologies into high-volume applications like mobile phones and automobiles has catalyzed a dramatic acceleration in innovation, collapsing the cost and complexity of implementing visual perception.

Bier will explain what’s fueling each of these key trends, and will highlight key implications for technology suppliers, solution developers and end-users. He will also provide technology and application examples illustrating each of these trends, including spotlighting the winners of the Alliance’s 2020 Vision Product of the Year Awards. A question-and-answer session will follow the presentation. See here for more information, including online registration.

Brian Dipert
Editor-In-Chief, Edge AI and Vision Alliance

COVID-19 (THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS) AND COMPUTER VISION

Face Mask Detection in Street Camera Video Streams Using AI: Behind the Curtain
In the new world of the coronavirus, according to Braulio Ríos and Marcos Toscano, two machine learning engineers at Tryolabs, numerous multidisciplinary efforts have been organized to slow the pandemic’s spread. The AI community has been a key part of many of these endeavors. Developments for monitoring social distancing and identifying face masks have particularly made headlines.

The pressure to show results as quickly as possible, along with inevitable AI “overpromising” by some developers and implementers, unfortunately often sends a misguided message: that solving these use cases is trivial thanks to AI’s “mighty powers”. To paint a more accurate and complete picture, in this technical article the company details the creative process behind a computer vision-based solution for one example application:

Detecting people that pass in front of a security camera
Identifying face mask usage, and
Collecting reliable statistics (% of people wearing masks)

Deep Learning for Medical Imaging: COVID-19 Detection
In this guest blog post published by MathWorks, Dr. Barath Narayanan from the University of Dayton Research Institute, along with his colleague Dr. Russell C. Hardie from the University of Dayton, provide a detailed description of how to implement a deep learning-based technique for detecting COVID-19 on chest radiographs. Their approach leverages MathWorks’ MATLAB along with an image dataset curated by Dr. Joseph Cohen, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Montreal.

Huiying Medical: Helping Combat COVID-19 with AI Technology
This blog post from Intel discusses how Huiying Medical’s AI-based medical imaging diagnostics algorithms analyze CT chest scans to combat the novel coronavirus. Huiying Medical’s AI-powered CT imaging solution can be deployed in the cloud or on premise and is able to achieve as high as 96% accuracy in classification of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (NCP). Combined with the computing power provided by Intel processors and AI neural network models, it takes only 2-3 seconds to process a CT study with 500 images.

UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS

Edge AI and Vision Alliance Webinar – Key Trends in the Deployment of Edge AI and Computer Vision: August 20, 2020, 9:00 am PT and 6:00 pm PT

Embedded Vision Summit: September 15-25, 2020

More Events

Alliance Member Company Primary Contact List (Effective August 3, 2020)

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 19:52:56 GMT

The Excel spreadsheet linked to below contains the Alliance member company primary contact list, as of August 3, 2020. Alliance Member Company Primary Contact List (8/3/20)

Alliance Member Company Primary Contact List (Effective August 3, 2020)

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"An Industry Standard Performance Benchmark Suite for Machine Learning,” a Presentation ...

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 08:00:00 GMT

Christine Cheng, co-chair of the inference benchmark working group at MLPerf and a senior machine learning optimization engineer at Intel, delivers the presentation “MLPerf: An Industry Standard Performance Benchmark Suite for Machine Learning” at the Edge AI and Vision Alliance’s July 2020 Edge AI and Vision Innovation Forum. Cheng explains…

“An Industry Standard Performance Benchmark Suite for Machine Learning,” a Presentation from MLPerf

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"Once-for-All DNNs: Simplifying Design of Efficient Models for Diverse Hardware,” a ...

Mon, 03 Aug 2020 08:00:38 GMT

Song Han, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, delivers the presentation “Once-for-All DNNs: Simplifying Design of Efficient Models for Diverse Hardware” at the Edge AI and Vision Alliance’s July 2020 Edge AI and Vision Innovation Forum. Han shares his group’s latest research on…

“Once-for-All DNNs: Simplifying Design of Efficient Models for Diverse Hardware,” a Presentation from MIT

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July 2020 Edge AI and Vision Innovation Forum Presentation Files

Sat, 01 Aug 2020 21:29:33 GMT

The ZIP files linked to below contains PDFs of the various presentations from the Alliance’s July 2020 Edge AI and Vision Innovation Forum. Please be aware that these materials are for Alliance Member company internal use only. July 29, 2020 Edge AI and Vision Innovation Forum Presentations July 30, 2020…

July 2020 Edge AI and Vision Innovation Forum Presentation Files

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Night Vision Devices Market – Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2020 – 2025)

Sat, 01 Aug 2020 21:16:14 GMT

The night vision devices market is expected to register a CAGR of 7.91% over the forecast period (2020 – 2025). The night vision devices provide the soldiers with color images at the low light environment in the field. These devices have also gained popularity among the wildfire researchers in recent years, which is estimated to create more demand for the devices. The technical and application feasibility, such as head-mounted night vision, coupled with reasonable cost, has propelled the demand. These devices enable clear visibility of over 150 to 200 yards at night.

The application of night vision devices is more dominantly toward the military and defense industry. Over the years, countries around the world have been increasing its military and defense budget significantly, which is estimated to drive the market for night vision devices. According to SIPRI, the United States spent over USD 717 billion for its defense activities, followed by China with USD 117 billion, in 2019.

Additionally, the night vision devices are increasingly being adopted by the law enforcement agencies for conducting training activities to ensure mission-ready status of the military troop. In March 2020, MKU, an Indian defense company, announced to release its range of gen-3 night vision devices for police forces. These devices are developed on un-cooled micro bolometer technology and are expected to showcase in the International Police Expo, to be held in May 2020.

Competitive Landscape

The market for safety laser scanner is moderately consolidated with the presence of a few major companies dominating the market. These companies are continuously investing in making strategic partnerships with governments and product developments to gain more market share. The stringent government regulation, coupled with high manufacturing cost, is increasing the competition among these players.

February 2020 – Thales Group announced to partner with MKU, an India-based defense company, to develop the ELFIE night vision device (NVD) for armed forces in India and the world. ELFIE is a lightweight monocular and has the most extensive field of view, providing better mobility and night combat capability. It is designed to use for left or right eye use and provides stereoscopic vision in a binocular configuration, especially for vehicle drivers, paratroopers, and special forces operators.
May 2019 – L3Harris Communication introduced its Ground Panoramic Night Vision Goggles (GPNVGs). The devices from the company are featured with four image intensification (I2) tubes and are enhanced with an integrated fused infrared (IR) overlay. It has capabilities of augmented reality (AR) and wireless connectivity.

For more information, visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5012422/night-vision-devices-market-growth-trends-and.

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Out Now: 12.2 MP Alvium 1800 USB Camera with Rolling Shutter Sensor and Small Pixel Size

Sat, 01 Aug 2020 04:29:58 GMT

Allied Vision’s new 4k 1800 U-1240 camera offers high-quality imaging for machine vision applications

Stadtroda, Germany, July 30, 2020 – Allied Vision adds another USB3 Vision camera with a rolling shutter to the Alvium 1800 series. The Alvium 1800 U-1240 incorporates Sony’s back-illuminated IMX226 CMOS sensor that enables high-quality imaging at 12.2 megapixel and 29 frames per second. Due to the pixel size of 1.85 μm, the camera combines the high image-quality with a small optical format and thus offers a very good price/performance ratio.

Versatile USB cameras with Sony Pregius IMX global shutter sensors

Together with the 1800 U-1240 Allied Vision releases two other new models in the 1800 U series equipped with Sony Pregius IMX global shutter sensors.

The Alvium 1800 U-240 comes with the Sony IMX392 CMOS sensor, providing a 2.4 megapixel resolution at 126 frames per second. Therefore, the Alvium 1800 U-240 models can replace cameras with Sony’s popular IMX174 and IMX249 sensors. Compared to sensors with the same resolution, the 1800 U-240 has a smaller optical format making it attractive for cost sensitive applications.

The Alvium 1800 U-508 model extends the Alvium portfolio with a fast global shutter IMX sensor at a very good price/performance ratio. With the IMX250, the 1800 U-508 is almost twice as fast as the 1800 U-507 while offering the same resolution.

Ideal for outdoor applications the compact cameras offer various hardware options to make the mounting and integration as easy as possible:
• Housings: Bare board, open housing, or closed housing
• Various lens mounts: C-Mount, CS-Mount, or S-Mount (not for 508 models)
• USB connector position: Select between the back panel or the left side of the camera (seen from the sensor side).

Alvium 1800 U-240, 1800 U-508, and 1800 U-1240 at a glance

Camera models	1800 U-240	1800 U-508	1800 U-1240
Sensor	IMX392	IMX250	IMX226
Resolution	2.4 MP	5.1 MP	12.2 MP
Pixels	1936 × 1216	2464 × 2056	4024 × 3036
Pixel Size (µm)	3.45	3.45	1.85
Optical Format	1/2.3”	2/3”	1/1.7”
Shutter	Global	Global	Rolling
Frame Rate	126	65	29
Mount Options	C-, CS-, S-mount	C-, CS-mount	C-, CS-, S-mount

The Alvium 1800 U-1240 and 1800 Alvium U-240 camera models are also available with a MIPI CSI-2 interface. The 1800 C-508 model will follow in August.

Alvium 1800 U cameras for PC-based machine vision

Allied Vision’s Alvium 1800 series combines the high performance and durability of machine vision cameras with the compact hardware and cost efficiency of embedded devices. These cameras offer high frame rates, high sensitivity, and excellent image quality. With industrial-grade hardware, a USB3 vision-compatible interface with screw-locked connectors, built-in image correction functions and high-precision triggering, they meet all the requirements of industrial image processing.

They are also based on the Alvium platform from Allied Vision, which has been optimized for embedded vision systems. This means they have an ultra-compact, lightweight design and are available as single-board modules or with an open housing for easy integration into small systems. Their cost-optimized platform design offers an unprecedented price/performance Ratio.

This makes the cameras the ideal choice for machine vision applications that require an ultra-compact and lightweight camera with high image quality and frame rates at an affordable price.

Excellent connectivity

With Allied Vision’s Vimba Suite, USB cameras can be easily integrated into both PC-based and embedded systems. Vimba Suite offers a future-proof, platform-independent SDK for all Allied Vision cameras with USB3 Vision Interface. GenICam-based Transport Layers support the Alvium USB cameras and can automatically connect them to third-party software solutions such as MATLAB, OpenCV, Halcon, CVB, and many more.

Allied Vision company profile

For more than 30 years, Allied Vision has been helping people to reach their imaging goals. Allied Vision supplies camera technology and image capture solutions for industrial inspection, medical and scientific imaging, traffic monitoring and many more application areas in digital imaging. With a deep understanding of customers’ needs, Allied Vision finds individual solutions for every application, a practice which has made Allied Vision one of the leading camera manufacturers worldwide in the machine vision market.

The company has nine locations in Germany, Canada, the United States, Singapore and China and is represented by a network of sales partners in over 30 countries. Allied Vision is member of the TKH Group.

www.alliedvision.com

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