Key takeaways:
- The sensor bridge will target healthcare, aerospace and defense and robotics applications.
- The solution will combine Intel compute, connectivity and software with Altera’s FPGAs.
- More flexibility for OEMs as they evolve applications from prototype to deployment.
Intel and Altera are collaborating to develop a flexible, real-time sensor bridge for edge and physical AI applications across healthcare, aerospace and defense, and robotics.
The collaboration will combine Intel’s compute, connectivity and software with Altera’s field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) with the goal to help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with complexity in connecting, processing and acting on real-world data across sensor edge environments.
Why this sensor bridge is needed in edge and physical AI systems
According to the companies, edge and physical AI systems must bring together data from different sensors and interfaces while meeting timing, performance, power and cost requirements.
Some applications also need high bandwidth or flexible form factors. The sensor data must then be streamed rapidly into memory for the host processor to use across these applications, the companies said.
Because of this, the Intel and Altera solution, which will combine compute, software and programmable hardware, promises to give engineers more flexibility as these environments evolve from prototype to deployment.
“Physical AI systems have to sense, decide and act in real time, and the physical world demands accuracy, reliability and safety,” said Farhad Shafai, head of business solutions and marketing at Altera. “Altera FPGAs provide the sensor connectivity, data processing and deterministic control that machines need to respond to the physical world.”
What use cases will use this edge and physical AI sensor bridge
Altera and Intel said they will focus the sensor bridge on use cases where real-time processing and programmable computing is a must. Users will be able to access these capabilities through Intel’s Open Edge Platform software development kit (SDK) and an Altera SDK.
For healthcare, the companies are jointly developing a reference solution that targets stringent latency and real-time requirements for healthcare equipment.
For aerospace and defense, the companies will create an SDK for next-generation mission systems focused on size, weight and power requirements.
For robotics, the solution will focus on timing, sensing and real-time processing requirements for intelligent machines.
