Toradex collaborates with Amazon Web Services and NXP to release Apalis AI Vision Starter Kit for the i.MX 8 Applications Processor

Feb 5, 2020 | Tech

Toradex worked in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NXP® Semiconductors to create the AI Embedded Vision Starter Kit, for developing cloud-connected computer vision and machine learning (ML) designs.

The kit functions as a reference implementation and was built using best in class cloud, industrial-grade edge software and hardware. It simplifies the creation of products in industries such as industrial automation, agriculture, medical equipment, and many more.

The AI Vision Starter Kit includes:

• Toradex Apalis System on Module (SoM) featuring NXP’s high performance i.MX 8QuadMax applications processor – optimized for safety and reliability
• Toradex Ixora Carrier Board
• Allied Vision Alvium 1500 industrial-grade MIPI CSI-2 camera
• All required cables and a power supply to get started
• Full software stack, including source code for running the device as well as for cloud deployment
• Extensive documentation
• 50 USD AWS credit

Today’s smart connected devices must meet a wide range of requirements:

• Secure connectivity for integration with business tools, remote monitoring and updates
• Maximum uptime and reliability, even with intermittent connectivity
• Small, rugged and cost-optimized computing hardware
• Optimized computer vision and machine learning technologies
• Short time-to-market, even with limited development resources

While there are solutions that solve each of these challenges, solving all of them together is not trivial. NXP, AWS and Toradex created a starter kit which does exactly that – it features connectivity, high reliability, a reduced time to market, computer vision and machine learning optimizations all in a small form factor.

“This AI Vision Starter Kit allows all customers to more easily unlock the embedded vision and machine learning potential of the i.MX 8QuadMax applications processor,” says Alex Dopplinger, industrial marketing manager at NXP. “The step-by-step instructions deploy a comprehensive reference software stack with just a few clicks, and combined with AWS and Toradex tools support, extends the reference design to many other uses.”

On the device side the kit comes with Torizon™, an easy-to-use industrial Linux® platform offered by Toradex. AWS IoT Greengrass is used to manage secure communications with the cloud as well as deliver offline capabilities. A local UI via HDMI is provided utilizing Web technologies. The cloud stack is deployed directly from the device in just a few steps via AWS CloudFormation as a dedicated AWS instance. AWS enabled the NXP i.MX 8 applications processor as a target for Amazon SageMaker Neo. Amazon SageMaker Neo allows developers to optimize a ML model for a certain device. Finally, to get everything up and running even faster, a trained and optimized model is included in the kit as well.

The source code for the software is available on Github and supported by extensive documentation in the Toradex Developer Center, making it easy to modify the implementation for your own needs.

To learn more visit: https://www.toradex.com/imx8-embedded-vision-starter-kit

To experience the solution and register for a chance to win a complementary starter kit, join the webinar Jumpstart Cloud-connected Computer Vision and Machine Learning Designs on February 6th visit: https://www.toradex.com/webinars/jumpstart-cloud-connected-computer-vision-and-machine-learning-designs

Innovative Technical Concepts and Smart Ideas for a Future Where People Will Be Put Back in Control of Their Data

Feb 5, 2020 | Tech

The Hague, February 2020 – The Data Sharing Days took place in The Hague on January 27 and 28, 2020. Over 100 international experts from private and public sector participated in this premier edition and discussed concepts and strategies in relation to the main theme of the event: “How to use data sovereignty to create value”. Participants experienced two days full of inspiring presentations, fruitful discussions and interviews conducted by visionaries and experts.

Driven by the implementation of GDPR in the EU and alike regulations in other countries, promoted by a growing public awareness for personal data and how it is handled by the Big Techs, data sovereignty and data sharing recently have become highly discussed topics across all industries.

To name just two of many highlights: Yvo Volman, head data policy and innovation in DG Connect at the European Commission shared his thoughts on the importance of data and data sovereignty for Europe. The interview led by Douwe Lycklama, founding partner of Innopay co-hosting the Data Sharing Days 2020, revealed precisely the necessity of rebuilding the trust of businesses and consumers in how their data is handled. That demands for innovative technical concepts and smart ideas. Consequently, Ruben Verborgh, professor of semantic web technology at Ghent University, presented his vision of reshaping the web as we know it. In his view we are entering the “post-Big Data era”, with companies realizing that data harvesting as a business model is a dead end. Instead, people should be given the choice of paying with data or money. Verborgh sees the future consisting of lots of small, interlinked data where people will be put back in control of where they store their data and with whom they share it, independently of the apps they use.

The feedback from the delegates and speakers leaves no room for doubt that the first edition of the Data Sharing Days was a remarkable success. A milestone was reached and laid a firm foundation for an industry-wide data sharing community that starts to speak the same language and for the phase of the transactional internet in the years to come.

More information on the Data Sharing Days: www.datasharingdays.com

Rolling provides high degree of flexibility in the manufacture of spoke blanks

Feb 4, 2020 | Tech

Wire 2020 will see the unveiling of the new spoke-blank reducing machine DD-350 developed by Aachener Maschinenbau GmbH (AMBA). With a throughput rate of up to 40 pieces per minute, this machine achieves a much higher efficiency than machines of conventional designs.

Double thick-end spokes, i.e. spokes that are thinner in the middle than at their ends, are predominantly used in high-end bicycles. They save weight and reduce windage. The blanks for this type of spokes cannot be manufactured by drawing or upsetting.

The new spoke-blank reducing machine developed by AMBA reduces the spoke diameter between the ends by rolling to a defined smaller diameter over a freely adjustable length. The machine achieves roundness tolerances as low as two to three hundredths of a millimeter.

Background: Electric bikes

The booming demand for electric bikes results in bicycles operating at higher speeds and more heavier-weight riders. As a result of these trends, the spoke ends connecting with the hub have to cope with increasingly higher loads, especially during braking. At the same time the opposite ends of the spoke may have the same diameter as common in non-electric bikes because the connection with the rim is not affected by the extra load. Consequently, there is a growing demand for spoke blanks with ends of different diameters.

The technology in detail

The new AMBA machine is servo-controlled. The new machine is servo-controlled. The length and position of the area with reduced cross section can be changed while the blank passes through. The user only enters the geometry of the blank into the CNC control unit. The machine adapts the rolling parameters automatically. All the operator needs to do is enter the data for the blank geometry into the CNC panel. The machine will automatically adjust the rolling parameters.

Manfred Houben, one of the Managing Directors of AMBA, sees great potential for the new DD-350 machine and the various models of this product line. “The machine is servo-controlled. This allows us to respond to the requirements of the spoke manufacturers extremely flexibly – not only in terms of highest precision and performance efficiency, but also with a view to potential new applications. For example, we can design the machine with such a high power rating that it is no problem to produce spoke blanks of much larger diameters.”

Cold forming of pinned joints for bicycle rims

At WIRE 2020, AMBA is additionally going to showcase its machines for rolling and knurling pinned joints for bike rims. Whereas these parts used to be manufactured by subtractive machining, AMBA”s all-in-one machine only requires one process step to form finished pinned joints directly from the cut wire rod. The finished parts are gravity-discharged from the machine.

AMBA at WIRE/TUBE 2020:
Düsseldorf, Germany, 30 March – 3 April 2020
Hall 16 / stand E50