Advantech: Demonstrating AI at the cutting ‘Edge’ of embedded technologies

February 28, 2023 WNIElectronics

Visitors to Embedded World 2023 will find Advantech in Hall 3, Booth 339, where they will see live demonstrations that show how to leverage the full advantages of AI at the Edge. Here, the Advantech AIR-030, an ultra-compact Edge AI system powered by the NVIDIA^® Jetson Orin™ module series, will take centre stage. The company will also shine the spotlight on a number of individual high-performance products for multi-stream Edge applications, including COM-HPC server modules and industrial motherboards.

The live demonstration is essentially a proof-of-concept system that highlights what is possible when combining Advantech and NVIDIA^®technology. At its heart is Advantech’s AIR-030, which delivers powerful AI inferencing capabilities by utilising NVIDIA^® Jetson AGX Orin™. Ideal for use in energy-efficient autonomous machines, this Edge AI system is equipped with I/O options that include CANBus for motion and direction control, LAN and optional PoE for camera input, and DI/O for sensor control. In addition, the AIR-030 supports multiple expansions to provide better support for wireless modules and advanced Edge AI applications.

NVIDIA^® Jetson’s board support packages integrate directly with Advantech’s Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tool, WISE-DeviceOn to support connectivity and device and data management. Together, these capabilities facilitate AI developments’ lifecycle management and over-the-air (OTA) AI model updates for retraining and performance optimisation. DeviceOn for Edge AI also provides real-time monitoring and management from Edge AI devices to cloud-based AI.

Notably, DeviceOn permits users to push their own model; no longer is there any requirement for model training on the module itself. Instead, users can train it on-cloud, on-premise or on their own infrastructure. After training the model, users can convert it to NX format ready for deployment to any Edge machine on the factory floor, or to hundreds of devices connected to DeviceOn.

Visitors to the booth will also see a demonstration involving the Advantech EPR-R7300 Edge AI box-pc, which is based on the new NVIDIA^® Jetson Orin™ module series. The system demonstrates object recognition capabilities and has potential applications in self-steering systems. This live presentation reveals how autonomous robotic systems recognise their surroundings and optimise their route based on the data acquired. Server-class Edge AI systems such as EPR-R7300 and AIR-030 are ideal for automated guided vehicles (AGVs), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and vision AI applications.

Another prominent theme on the booth will be Advantech’s rich product offer for extreme-performance Edge computing applications. The company’s Edge computers, COM-HPC server modules and industrial motherboards offer total system control, monitoring and OTA software updates. Their rugged design ensures system stability in harsh environments, while highly integrated data encryption and security features provide complete peace of mind for end users. Naturally, many years of Advantech expertise in hardware design means these products deliver super-speed data throughput with low-latency transmission, along with fast integration, easy scalability and straightforward maintenance.

Among the products on show will be the AIMB-592 MicroATX industrial motherboard, which supports a 64-core AMD EPYC processor. Measuring just 244 x 244 mm in size, the AIMB-592 is perfect for space/cost-sensitive applications where fewer than four slots are required.

Advantech will also promote its SOM-E780, a powerful COM-HPC size E server module with proprietary pinout, 64-core AMD EPYC CPU and 79 PCIe lanes. Regarding Edge computers, visitors will discover the ARK-7060 with Intel^® Xeon^® server-grade computing and 10GbE data-transfer capabilities, as well as the EPC-B5592 server-grade Edge computer for power-hungry graphic AI applications.

Last but not least, visitors can learn about all the local options and support offered by Advantech’s customised product Design & Manufacturing Services (DMS).

A competent and welcoming team of Advantech experts will be present on the booth to discuss any specific projects and answer questions.