Seeed Studio's SenseCAP A1101 Aims at a 10-Minute Start for Industrial-Grade TinyML Computer Vision

Seeed Studio has launched an integrated vision sensor with tinyML capabilities, designed for on-device inferencing and computer vision at the edge: the SenseCAP A1101.

"[The] SenseCAP A1101 LoRaWAN Vision AI Sensor is an industrial-level SenseCAP sensor that has an IP66 grade industry-level enclosure and battery, which has a Wio-E5 LoRaWAN module and MCU [Microcontroller Unit] embedded," the company explains of the device. "Benefiting from the reliable SenseCAP sensor platform, it is very convenient to add SenseCAP A1101 to the SenseCAP Mate App and Dashboard and deploy the application when the model training is completed."

Seeed first unveiled the SenseCAP A1101 in March this year, as part of a wide-ranging product launch aimed at what the company described as "digitalizing the wild" through affordable devices for broad sensor network and on-device machine learning deployment. As promised, the device offers computer vision at the edge through an on-board Himax HM0360 VGA-resolution camera sensor linked to an integrated machine learning accelerator for local inferencing — while requiring so little power as to offer a claimed 2-3 year runtime from a single charge of its 19Ah battery.

The device supports TensorFlow Lite, Edge Impulse, and other tinyML platforms, Seeed has confirmed, with two demonstration models available out-of-the-box: people detection, accurate to a range of around 16 feet, and meter recognition. The built-in Wio-E5 LoRaWAN module, meanwhile, provides low-power long-range wireless connectivity — and while relatively low-throughput, the ability to perform inferencing on-device removes the need to stream live image data to an external system for processing.

Seeed has also confirmed it is working on a second tinyML sensor entry in the SenseCAP range, the SenseCAP A1101 LoRaWAN Sound/Vibration AI Sensor, but describes it as "still under development" with no launch date available at the time of writing.

The SenseCAP A1101 is now available to buy from the Seeed Studio web store, priced at $79 before volume discounts; the SenseCAP M2 LoRaWAN Indoor Gateway, to provide connectivity for remote SenseCAP devices, is available at $199 for those without access to an existing LoRaWAN network.