It has been a while since we have done an update on the AI-deck! However, as announced in the New Year post, we do have some important changes coming up for the next batch of production. These changes include updated version of the GAP8 chip and switching to a gray-scale camera. We will call this version the AI-deck 1.1, but its firmware should be compatible with the previous version. Currently we don’t have a clear time-line of when we will receive the next batch but it will be soon.
Newer version of GAP8
Together with our collaborators at Greenwaves technologies, we decided to update the GAP8 chip to the latest version available. Since this required a microchip change on the product and to prevent any confusion, we decided to call this version the AIdeck 1.1.
The new version of the GAP8 chip includes several improvements, which resolves 1. conflict problem between uart and hyperbus and 2. Cluster DMA when doing the data transfer between L2 and L1 Memory. The last issue is considered a corner case will only occur if the AI-deck 1.0 is pushed to its limit with a large deep neural network. Although we expect that both issues will not affect the current users if you are experiencing any related problems with the previous version (AI-deck 1.0), please send us an email to contact@bitcraze.io.
Gray-scale Camera
In July we have given an update where we discussed the color camera and how to process it on the GAP8 chip. Even though at the first we were pretty optimistic on the possibilities with the camera, after discussing with the community, ETH zurich and Greenwaves T., we have decided to switch back to a gray-scale camera.
This is because most examples in the gap_sdk repo mostly assume a gray-scale camera. And even though the color camera would be good for image processing with anything of color, it is less ideal for neural networks on edge machine learning devices.
For those who committed themselves to the color camera module, do not worry! We are planning to still offer the color camera module as a separate product in our store! Also we will have a limited amount of grayscale cameras available for those who are unhappy with their AI-decks 1.0’s color camera.
Firmware, Docs and Examples
Since the AI-deck is still in early release, have all the code and documentation in this github repository. This contains all the start-up guides and keeps track of all the bugs and fixes. Some months ago, we managed to update all of this to the latest GAP SDK (3.8.1), which fixed the streamer issues we are having.
However, the quickest way on how to improve this Early Release product is to get feedback by its users. So if you are having any problems at all, do not hesitate to ask a question on to forum or to open up a issue in the repository!