InnoPhase IoT and Ingenic Semiconductor have collaborated on launching an AI-enabled Wi-Fi battery camera reference design and development platform with 4K video and H.265 support. The collaboration brings in InnoPhase IoT’s power optimised Talaria TWO (T2) Wi-Fi platform and Ingenic’s T41 AI-enabled video ISP with deep learning algorithms for a complete, power-optimised device with 2-4X battery life improvement.
The platform’s ultra-low power (ULP) Wi-Fi enables a sufficient power budget to deliver AI functionality without affecting the battery life. Applications for this include battery-based Wi-Fi cameras for video surveillance, video doorbells, baby and pet monitoring, patient monitoring, event monitoring, manufacturing, and retail.
The high power consumption of AI, Video ISP, and Wi-Fi meant enabling a battery-operated camera with vision AI capabilities was impossible. Power over Ethernet (POE) and wall-powered cameras were the only options, making installation, operation, and maintenance an expensive challenge. OEMs/ODMs now have access to a complete Cloud-connected, easy-to-use battery-based AI camera solution with fast time to market for smart homes, building automation, and industrial IoT verticals.
With these latest solutions, InnoPhase IoT and Ingenic now offer a scalable battery-based video camera solutions portfolio: the T41+Talaria TWO for the high-end with AI and 4K video, the T31+T2 with INP3201 development kit supporting 2K video announced in 2023, and the cost-optimised T23+Talaria TWO, all featuring the same scalable architecture and long battery life advantages. Customers can select a platform to meet their performance and budget requirements.
“Until recently, the ability to enable battery-powered cameras with sufficient battery life was a key challenge for the wireless video camera industry,” explained Andrew Zignani, Senior Research Director, ABI Research. “Now, thanks to various innovations, including ultra-low power Wi-Fi, the aggressive management of power consumption means there are not only battery-based camera solutions on the market with months to years of battery life but those which can now also implement traditionally power-hungry AI capabilities.
“The combination of InnoPhase IoT’s Talaria TWO ultra-low-power Wi-Fi module and Ingenic’s T41 video processor with deep learning algorithms should spur a wave of new development in the wireless video market while enabling valuable new use cases and services.”
The InnoPhase IoT Talaria TWO includes an integrated MCU that is used to power down the ISP in idle mode and to offload TCP-IP networking and cloud connectivity to Talaria TWO. Its ‘Always ON, Always Connected’ capability enables recording to start upon sensing activity such as motion with very low latency and mitigated image loss while enabling a 1+ year battery life.
Ingenic’s T414K-camera ISP delivers 1.2 TOPS@Int8 AI engine and Magik AI platform for simplified and accurate AI and video processing at the device Edge. Smart encoding delivers auto-adjustive rate control that reduces bitrate and retains image quality, lower Cloud storage costs, increased local storage duration, and optimised video streaming. The AI+ battery camera significantly reduces false alarms that previously affected battery endurance.
“Ingenic delivers [the] AI capabilities combined with low-energy computing increasingly demanded for smart video devices,” said Zoro Li, Director of Video Sensing product line. “In an industry that’s constantly evolving, Ingenic and InnoPhase IoT technologies combine to provide the fastest, most advanced, and reliable solutions available today, enabling our collective customers to retain competitive differentiation and time to market advantage.”
“Our long-standing collaboration with Ingenic now extends to enabling AI capabilities critical for today’s battery-based video camera applications,” added Wiren Perera, President and COO, InnoPhase IoT. “Having significantly raised the bar for camera battery life, these new AI capabilities can raise the bar further by eliminating false alarms. Performance can scale further from presence detection through object identification to personal identification, ushering in a plethora of potential new use cases.”
Reference Design includes a complete battery-operated Wi-Fi video camera based on the Ingenic T41 ISP + Talaria TWO INP1014 module-based SDIO daughter card, image sensor, microphone and speakers, LEDs, USB-C connector, and battery connector power supply options, a T41 shut-off control by Talaria TWO for extended battery life, and on-board power measurement test points.
Customers can download a fully integrated software development kit (SDK) with T41 Linux drivers, connection manager, Cloud connectivity software, support for device provisioning over BLE, Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) and Firmware Over-Serial (FOS) updates, plus quick start, and user guides. The reference design is completely debugged, and a variety of design partners are available and familiar with the kit, accelerating time-to-development and time-to-market for OEMS/ODMs. The concept to market typically spans 6-9 months.
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