Videology cameras get smarter with SCAILX

SCAiLX is an IP/AI Edge device platform developed fully in-house that runs initially with Videology Zoom Blocks. It opens opportunities in many applications, combining Edge computing and AI, known as Edge AI in the embedded imaging industry.

A SMART CAMERA WITH Edge AI – the SCAiLX SoM module

The Edge AI device interfacing platform is based on a multicore processor from NXP with an integrated Neural Processing Unit (NPU). Launched in late 2021,  the NXP i.MX 8M Plus processors support machine learning, vision, multimedia and industrial IoT applications. The i.MX 8M Plus is a state-of-the-art AI processor that forms a very compact System-on-Module (SoM) with external memory and power management chips.  The SoM is a small Printed Circuit Board (PCB) that has all the interfacing towards the outside world to make a very compact vision solution. 

Videology has designed a 42x42mm processor board with a dual MIPI CSI-2 video interface port and a 42x42mm board to interface a 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet port around NXP i.MX 8M Plus based on SoM that maximizes SWaP. The MIPI CSI-2 interface ports are video ports based on the MIPI alliance specifications that facilitate the interfacing of CMOS image sensors as well as other digital video sources such as LVDS and HDMI with the NXP i.MX 8M processor core. The NXP processor can directly handle the MIPI CSI signals and the NXP chip has a full video pipeline of MIPI CSI-2 receivers, ISPs (Image Signal Processors) and VPUs (Video Processing Units) with H.264 and H.265 compression. 

Videology's  SCAiLX SoM 42x42mm processing board can be stacked on an Ethernet networking board for appropriate power management, RJ-45 magnetics and optional Power-over-Ethernet (PoE). This stack of boards has the power to turn any Videology imaging solution into a smart camera. 

Neural Processing on the edge

The Linux-based operating system is a special embedded version, built to access the video images received by the NXP hardware and fed into the software modules for Machine Learning using the integrated hardware NPU (Neural Processing Unit). The video images can be streamed in multiple qualities over the network for storage and viewing.

The NPU is the accelerator that NXP includes in the standard multi-core processor, speeding up the execution of the specific AI tasks – weather it is inference and/or classification. The NPU is fed with a model and the images received can be processed by the NPU, using TensorFlow Lite, ONNX or others.

SCAiLX: A First-to-Market 

A Videology Zoom Block camera is a small packed camera with a 2MPixel or 8MP (4K) image sensor, a high quality optical auto-focusing lens system that has 10x, 18x, 20x, 30x or 36x autofocus, and a video processing pipeline. The Zoom Block cameras have a set of commands to control various functions of the camera, such as zoom factor, resolution, color settings, etc., via the VISCA serial communication interface. However, a typical Zoom Block camera does not have a MIPI CSI-2 interface port or an Ethernet port. More commonly, they have an LVDS video port.

Videology engineers have designed an interface board to convert the digital video information available on the LVDS video port to MIPI CSI-2 (LVDS-2-MIPI), using a dedicated FPGA for interfacing to the i.MX 8M Plus SoM. With the new SCAiLX Zoom Block cameras, the VISCA control of the Zoom Block camera has become a part of the i.MX8 Plus processor implementation and can now be accessed via the HTTP protocol. 

Videology is proud to announce that SCAiLX, the IP/AI Edge device SoM platform now interfaces the Zoom Block cameras via the 42x42mm LVDS-2-MIPI interface board. Videology Zoom Block cameras powered with SCAiLX technology are now smarter with Machine Learning and vision at the Edge. All-new SCAiLX is a first-to-market breakthrough that expands embedded Edge AI to Zoom Block cameras.

Coupled with a cloud-based AI model management software platform, the intelligent SCAiLX Zoom Block cameras can detect, analyze and compare images right on the Edge. AI on the edge drives new outcomes in manufacturing, retail, financial services, transportation, energy, healthcare and more industries. 

Videology will be demonstrating its first generation smart camera, the SCAiLX Zoom Block cameras at the upcoming Vision 2022 trade show in Stuttgart, Germany.

Please visit the SCAiLX page for more information on SCAiLX Zoom Block cameras.