Himax Launches WiseEye WE-I Plus HX6537-A to Support AI Deep Learning with Google’s TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers

TAINAN, Taiwan, June 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Himax Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: HIMX) (“Himax” or “Company”), a leading supplier and fabless manufacturer of display drivers and other semiconductor products, today announced the launch of WiseEye WE-I Plus HX6537-A solution that supports Google’s TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers. In this collaboration, Himax is providing the HX6537-A processor with NN (neural network) based SDK (Software Development Kit) for developers to generate deep learning inferences running on TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers kernel to boost overall system AI performance.

The Himax WiseEye solution is composed of the Himax HX6537-A processor and Himax AoS sensor. With support to TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers, developers are able to take advantage of the WE-I Plus platform as well as the integrated ecosystem from TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers to develop their NN based edge AI applications targeted for Notebook, TV, Home Appliance, Battery Camera and IP Surveillance edge computing markets. The benefits of the Himax HX6537-A processor are driven by three unique features.

Ultra low power and high-performance AI processor
The HX6537-A processor adopts a programmable DSP that runs at 400MHz with power-efficient and multi-level power schemes that incorporate CDM, HOG and JPEG hardware accelerators for real-time motion detection, object detection and image processing. The processor remains in low power mode until a movement/object is identified by accelerators. Afterwards, DSP coped with the running NN inference on TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers kernel will be able to perform the needed CV operation to send out the metadata results over TLS (Transport Level Security) protocol to main SOC and/or cloud service for application level operation. The average power consumption for Google Person Detection example inference could be under 5mW.

Support Google TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers
As a result of Himax support to TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers, it is now possible to leverage the TensorFlow ecosystem to train and deploy TensorFlow models onto Himax's ultra low power hardware. For software development, Himax has ported WE-I Plus SDK.AI with optimized Machine Learning Inference (MLI) library dedicated to TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers. The MLI software library could bolster inference running on TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers MLI kernel 5 times faster than the reference kernel. This will enable developers to get the benefit of performance and comprehensive NN based machine learning models and kernel of TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers to easily deploy their video and voice-oriented AI applications.