Ceva Extends its Smart Edge IP Leadership, Adding New TinyML Optimized NPUs for AIoT Devices to Enable Edge AI Everywhere
ROCKVILLE, Md., June 24, 2024 -- Ceva, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEVA), the leading licensor of silicon and software IP that enables Smart Edge devices to connect, sense and infer data more reliably and efficiently, today announced that it has extended its Ceva-NeuPro family of Edge AI NPUs with the introduction of Ceva-NeuPro-Nano NPUs. These highly-efficient, self-sufficient NPUs deliver the power, performance and cost efficiencies needed for semiconductor companies and OEMs to integrate TinyML models into their SoCs for consumer, industrial, and general-purpose AIoT products.
TinyML refers to the deployment of machine learning models on low-power, resource-constrained devices to bring the power of AI to the Internet of Things (IoT). Driven by the increasing demand for efficient and specialized AI solutions in IoT devices, the market for TinyML is growing rapidly. According to research firm ABI Research, by 2030 over 40% of TinyML shipments will be powered by dedicated TinyML hardware rather than all-purpose MCUs. By addressing the specific performance challenges of TinyML, the Ceva-NeuPro-Nano NPUs aim to make AI ubiquitous, economical and practical for a wide range of use cases, spanning voice, vision, predictive maintenance, and health sensing in consumer and industrial IoT applications.
Related |
NPU IP for Embedded AI |
The new Ceva-NeuPro-Nano Embedded AI NPU architecture is fully programmable and efficiently executes Neural Networks, feature extraction, control code and DSP code, and supports most advanced machine learning data types and operators including native transformer computation, sparsity acceleration and fast quantization. This optimized, self-sufficient architecture enables Ceva-NeuPro-Nano NPUs to deliver superior power efficiency, with a smaller silicon footprint, and optimal performance compared to the existing processor solutions used for TinyML workloads which utilize a combination of CPU or DSP with AI accelerator-based architectures. Furthermore, Ceva-NetSqueeze AI compression technology directly processes compressed model weights, without the need for an intermediate decompression stage. This enables the Ceva-NeuPro-Nano NPUs to achieve up to 80% memory footprint reduction, solving a key bottleneck inhibiting the broad adoption of AIoT processors today.
"Ceva-NeuPro-Nano opens exciting opportunities for companies to integrate TinyML applications into low-power IoT SoCs and MCUs and builds on our strategy to empower smart edge devices with advanced connectivity, sensing and inference capabilities. The Ceva-NeuPro-Nano family of NPUs enables more companies to bring AI to the very edge, resulting in intelligent IoT devices with advanced feature sets that capture more value for our customers," said Chad Lucien, vice president and general manager of the Sensors and Audio Business Unit at Ceva. "By leveraging our industry-leading position in wireless IoT connectivity and strong expertise in audio and vision sensing, we are uniquely positioned to help our customers unlock the potential of TinyML to enable innovative solutions that enhance user experiences, improve efficiencies, and contribute to a smarter, more connected world."
According to Paul Schell, Industry Analyst at ABI Research, "Ceva-NeuPro-Nano is a compelling solution for on-device AI in smart edge IoT devices. It addresses the power, performance, and cost requirements to enable always-on use-cases on battery-operated devices integrating voice, vision, and sensing use cases across a wide array of end markets. From TWS earbuds, headsets, wearables, and smart speakers to industrial sensors, smart appliances, home automation devices, cameras, and more, Ceva-NeuPro-Nano enables TinyML in energy constrained AIoT devices."
The Ceva-NeuPro-Nano NPU is available in two configurations - the Ceva-NPN32 with 32 int8 MACs, and the Ceva-NPN64 with 64 int8 MACs, both of which benefit from Ceva-NetSqueeze for direct processing of compressed model weights. The Ceva-NPN32 is highly optimized for most TinyML workloads targeting voice, audio, object detection, and anomaly detection use cases. The Ceva-NPN64 provides 2x performance acceleration using weight sparsity, greater memory bandwidth, more MACs, and support for 4-bit weights to deliver enhanced performance for more complex on-device AI use cases such as object classification, face detection, speech recognition, health monitoring, and others.
The NPUs are delivered with a complete AI SDK - Ceva-NeuPro Studio - which is a unified AI stack that delivers a common set of tools across the entire Ceva-NeuPro NPU family, supporting open AI frameworks including TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers (TFLM) and microTVM (µTVM).
The Ceva-NeuPro-Nano Key Features
Flexible and scalable NPU architecture
- Fully programmable to efficiently execute Neural Networks, feature extraction, control code, and DSP code
- Scalable performance by design to meet a wide range of use cases
- MAC configurations with up to 64 int8 MACs per cycle
- Future proof architecture that supports the most advanced ML data types and operators
- 4-bit to 32-bit integer support
- Native transformer computation
- Ultimate ML performance for all use cases using advanced mechanisms
- Sparsity acceleration
- Acceleration of non-linear activation types
- Fast quantization
Edge NPU with ultra-low memory requirements
- Highly efficient, single core design for NN compute, feature extraction, control code, and DSP code eliminates need for a companion MCU for these computationally intensive tasks
- Up to 80% memory footprint reduction via Ceva-NetSqueeze which directly process compressed model weights without the need for an intermediate decompression stage
Ultra-low energy achieved through innovative energy optimization techniques
- Automatic on-the-fly energy tuning
- Dramatic energy and bandwidth reduction by distilling computations using weight-sparsity acceleration
Complete, Simple to Use AI SDK
- Ceva-NeuPro Studio provides a unified AI stack, with an easy click-and-run experience, for all Ceva-NeuPro NPUs, from the new Ceva-NeuPro-Nano to the powerful Ceva-NeuPro-M
- Fast time to market by accelerating software development and deployment
- Optimized to work seamlessly with leading, open AI inference frameworks including TFLM and µTVM
- Model Zoo of pretrained and optimized TinyML models covering voice, vision and sensing use cases
- Flexible to adapt to new models, applications and market needs
- Comprehensive portfolio of optimized runtime libraries and off-the-shelf application-specific software
Availability
Ceva-NeuPro-Nano NPUs are available for licensing today. For more information, visit: https://www.ceva-ip.com/product/ceva-neupro-nano/
About Ceva, Inc.
At Ceva, we are passionate about bringing new levels of innovation to the smart edge. Our wireless communications, sensing and Edge AI technologies are at the heart of some of today's most advanced smart edge products. From Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, UWB and 5G platform IP for ubiquitous, robust communications, to scalable Edge AI NPU IPs, sensor fusion processors and embedded application software that make devices smarter, we have the broadest portfolio of IP to connect, sense and infer data more reliably and efficiently. We deliver differentiated solutions that combine outstanding performance at ultra-low power within a very small silicon footprint. Our goal is simple – to deliver the silicon and software IP to enable a smarter, safer, and more interconnected world. This philosophy is in practice today, with Ceva powering more than 17 billion of the world's most innovative smart edge products from AI-infused smartwatches, IoT devices and wearables to autonomous vehicles and 5G mobile networks.
Our headquarters are in Rockville, Maryland with a global customer base supported by operations worldwide. Our employees are among the leading experts in their areas of specialty, consistently solving the most complex design challenges, enabling our customers to bring innovative smart edge products to market.
Ceva: Powering the Smart Edge™
Visit us at www.ceva-ip.com.
|
Ceva, Inc. Hot IP
Related News
- Ceva and Edge Impulse Join Forces to Enable Faster, Easier Development of Edge AI Applications
- Ceva Expands its Market Share Leadership in Wireless Connectivity IP, Strengthening its Solutions for Smart Edge AI/IoT applications
- Ceva Launches Multi-Protocol Wireless Platform IP Family to Accelerate Enhanced Connectivity in MCUs and SOCs for IoT and Smart Edge AI Applications
- Ceva Expands AI Ecosystem for its Class-Leading NPU IP with New Partnerships for Automotive and Edge AI
- CEVA and LG Partner to Bring Intelligent Vision Processing to Smart Home Appliances
Breaking News
- MIPI Alliance Announces OEM, Expanded Ecosystem Support for MIPI A-PHY Automotive SerDes Specification
- Deeptech Keysom completes a €4M fundraising and deploys the first "no-code" tool dedicated to the design of tailor-made processors
- LDRA Announces Extended Support for RISC-V High Assurance Software Quality Tool Suite to Accelerate On-Target Testing of Critical Embedded Applications
- Faraday and Kiwimoore Succeed in 2.5D Packaging Project for Mass Production
- Secure-IC unveils its Securyzr™ neo Core Platform at Embedded World North America 2024
Most Popular
- Deeptech Keysom completes a €4M fundraising and deploys the first “no-code” tool dedicated to the design of tailor-made processors
- Bluetooth® V6.0 Channel Sounding RF Transceiver IP Core in 22nm & 40nm for ultra-low power distance aware Bluetooth connected devices
- Secure-IC unveils its Securyzr™ neo Core Platform at Embedded World North America 2024
- LDRA Announces Extended Support for RISC-V High Assurance Software Quality Tool Suite to Accelerate On-Target Testing of Critical Embedded Applications
- Electronic System Design Industry Posts $4.7 Billion in Revenue in Q2 2024, ESD Alliance Reports
E-mail This Article | Printer-Friendly Page |