Introduction: When AI Steps Down from the “Cloud”, Intelligence Is All Around Us #
Imagine an unmanned store that can instantly recognize customers entering and leaving, factory robots that immediately respond to anomalies, or hospital X-ray scans that provide diagnostic suggestions in real time… These intelligent applications are no longer just science fiction—they are becoming reality in our daily lives. The driving force behind all this is Edge AI.
Today, we’d like to introduce Advantech’s latest innovation, the “Edge AI SDK”, a treasure chest of tools that brings AI capabilities to all kinds of field devices. Whether you’re an engineer, a business partner, or simply interested in AI, you can now witness how the intelligent era is accelerating!
What Is Edge AI? Why Is It Called “The Next Big Trend”? #
Traditional AI computation is mostly performed on cloud servers. However, as data volumes soar and application scenarios expand, sending all data to the cloud has become slow, expensive, and raises security concerns. That’s where Edge AI comes in! Edge AI means deploying AI capabilities as close to the data source as possible—such as cameras, industrial computers, autonomous vehicles, or medical devices—to enable on-site, real-time computation and decision-making.
According to Gartner, by 2025, over 55% of enterprise data will be processed at the edge. This means that industries like smart manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and transportation will all be led by Edge AI in their digital transformation!
Three Key Advantages of Edge AI:
- Ultra-Real-Time Response: No need to wait for network round trips—decisions and actions are made instantly on site.
- Higher Security and Privacy: Sensitive data stays local, minimizing the risk of data leaks.
- Bandwidth Savings and High Efficiency: No need to send massive image data to the cloud, reducing network costs.
Technical Challenges: Why Is Edge AI Development So “Tough”? #
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Countless Hardware Options—Which to Choose?
There are NVIDIA, Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Hailo, and many other platforms, each with different specs, performance, and compatibility. Choosing the wrong one can doom your project from the start. -
Complex System, Drivers, and SDK Dependencies
Different hardware requires different operating systems, drivers, and SDKs, with intricate version dependencies. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up in “installation hell”. -
AI Frameworks and Model Conversion Are Mind-Boggling
PyTorch, TensorFlow, ONNX, quantization, pruning, format conversion… Every step is a potential pitfall. Models might not run, or performance may be subpar, keeping engineers up all night. -
Final Application Development Must Integrate Front-End, Data, Inference, and Feedback
From hardware to application, it’s like riding a “metro line”—you can’t afford to miss a stop!
Advantech Edge AI SDK: The Ultimate Tool for Seamless AI Development! #
To address these pain points, the Advantech team has leveraged extensive R&D experience to create the “Edge AI SDK”—a comprehensive toolkit designed to accelerate Edge AI development and lower the barrier to entry.
1. One-Click Installation—No More Driver and SDK Headaches #
Every hardware platform (Jetson, Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Hailo…) requires its own SDK and drivers. Edge AI SDK helps you “handle it all with one click”!
- Pre-built environment installers (JetPack, OpenVINO, ROCm, SNPE, Hailo-RT…)
- Automatic adaptation to various AI device drivers, ensuring version compatibility and system stability
- Deep integration with mainstream AI runtime SDKs for a consistent and efficient deployment process
2. No More Guesswork in Hardware Selection—Performance Metrics at Your Fingertips #
Edge AI SDK includes a built-in AI Benchmark tool, allowing you to run tests directly on various Advantech Edge AI devices and immediately see:
- Inference performance (FPS, latency)
- System resource usage
- Model suitability
- Best platform choices for different AI applications
3. Built-In AI Experience Flows—All-in-One for Vision AI and Generative AI #
Vision AI Sample Applications:
- Object Detection: Identify vehicles, people, and items in images, just like YOLO
- Person Detection: Detect the number of people on site, applicable to security, retail, healthcare, and more
- Face Recognition: Spot familiar faces for access control, VIP identification, digital signage, etc.
- Pose Estimation: Track human joints for fitness coaching, factory safety monitoring, etc.
Generative AI Sample Applications:
- Local chatbot (compact LLM), enabling more responsive smart customer service
- Multimodal AI Agent, delivering new image + text interactive experiences
The SDK comes with a built-in inference engine, allowing developers to focus on application development without worrying about underlying integration!
Easy Development Workflow—From Model to Deployment, All in One #
We provide comprehensive Edge AI SDK Documentation and Edge AI Workflow Examples to help developers quickly launch their projects:
- Rapid AI Environment Setup: Install the appropriate systems and tools for each platform (e.g., Jetson Orin AIR-030).
- Quick Model Zoo Integration: Connect to various AI Model Zoos and easily select suitable models.
- Model Optimization and Conversion: Supports TensorRT, OpenVINO, SNPE, Hailo-RT, and more for effortless quantization and format conversion.
- AI App Development Interface: Abstracted APIs support various input, preprocessing, inference, and post-processing flows, lowering the development barrier.
- Deployment and Execution: One-click deployment to Advantech Edge AI hardware, with detailed instructions and process descriptions.
Real-World Applications: Advantech Edge AI SDK in Action! #
The Edge AI SDK has already been deployed across multiple industries worldwide, helping customers achieve intelligent transformation with AI:
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Smart Manufacturing: Real-time production line image analysis to verify correct assembly, improving efficiency and quality
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AOI Defect Detection: On-edge real-time defect detection to reduce defective product outflow
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Smart Healthcare: Medical image AI analysis combined with encryption modules to protect patient privacy and accelerate diagnosis
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Retail Stores: Real-time foot traffic analysis and facial recognition to support interactive digital signage and enhance customer experience
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Entertainment Industry: Smart interactive experiences in gaming and lottery venues to attract players and optimize processes
Conclusion and Future Outlook: Continuous Innovation—Edge AI Makes Intelligence Omnipresent! #
Advantech continues to focus on edge AI computing, and our Edge AI SDK not only addresses industry pain points but also enables AI technology to be truly implemented on every “frontline”. Looking ahead, we will:
- Support more next-generation AI hardware (Qualcomm, Hailo, Intel NPU, NVIDIA Jetson Orin series, etc.)
- Quickly integrate the latest models and tools (YOLOv8, Segment Anything, Llama3…)
- Enhance GenAI and multimodal applications to help customers create the next generation of intelligent assistants
- Deepen integration with industry applications (robotics, retail, smart cities, etc.), shortening deployment times and increasing value
AI is no longer out of reach—Advantech Edge AI SDK empowers every enterprise to get started easily, deploy rapidly, and lead the smart future! Want to experience our innovative capabilities? Contact us and explore the limitless possibilities of Edge AI together!
(For more technical details and downloads, please refer to the Edge AI SDK Official Documentation)