XMOS Unveils xcore.ai, "the World's Highest Processing Power for a Dollar"
First product demos due in June 2020, with registration now open for the chip's alpha program.
Embedded processing specialist XMOS has announced a new crossover processor offering, it claims, enough power for edge AI in a part costing just $1: xcore.ai.
"xcore.ai delivers the world’s highest processing power for a dollar," claims XMOS chief executive Mark Lippet. "This, coupled with its flexibility means electronics manufacturers (no matter their size) can embed multi-modal processing in smart devices to make life simpler, safer and more satisfying for all."
The xcore.ai design centres around 16 logical cores with scalar, float, and vector instruction support operating in the real-time domain. These cores can then be split to control multiple tasks and workloads: Inference, control, input/output, and digital signal processing tasks are programmed in C using FreeRTOS libraries; neural network models can run on-device across multiple cores using TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers; there's support for far-field microphone and sensor data processing alongside keyword detection; and an instruction set designed to bring high performance to DSP, machine learning, and cryptographic functions.
The design unveiled by XMOS shows the 16 logical cores, configured as two clusters of eight connected to a central switch with each cluster receiving its own scheduler, IO pins, up to 128 software-defined hardware ports with "nanosecond latency", static RAM, and a vector ALU offering floating point and integer support. The design also includes an interface to external LPDDR memory, a high-speed USB 2.0 PHY, MIMI D-PHY for imaging support, and JTAG debugging.
The key to XMOS' claims of the best bang for your buck comes in the use if binary neural networks, boosting efficiency by between 2.6x and 4x compared to an eight-bit full-precision neural network. Combined with the chip's other specifications, XMOS claims that gives xcore.ai a 32-fold improvement in AI performance, 16x faster IO processing, and 15 times faster signal processing performance compared to the Arm Cortex M7 at 600MHz - claimed by XMOS to be the part's closest compatition.
XMOS has indicated that the xcore.ai will be launching in demo form in June 2020, with more information and registration for the product's alpha program available from the official website.