Introduce the principles and practices of edge AI through comprehensive materials and practical exercises
March 10, 2023 – As part of the Imagination University Program (IUP), Imagination launched a new course on edge artificial intelligence for undergraduate students. The course is entitled “Edge AI: Principles and Practices”, and contains rich materials and practical exercises to enable students to comprehensively understand the basic knowledge of edge AI, image and speech detection and recognition.
“Edge AI is rapidly transforming technology in various industries and bringing enormous potential,” said Robert Owen, Chief Consultant for Imagination’s Global University Program. After the great success of our RVfpga course, we hope to further increase the toolkits available to the next generation of developers and ensure their success in this new and exciting field. Today, we are proud to announce the official release of the course “Edge Artificial Intelligence: Principles and Practice”, which has penetrated various industries and will also help students firmly grasp AI technology. By focusing on real-world applications, including artificial intelligence vision and speech recognition, we provide undergraduate students with the right tools to build future heterogeneous SoCs.
This course aims to help students lay a solid foundation in the theory of edge artificial intelligence, provide them with the skills and knowledge they need, and help them achieve rapid success. It includes theory and practice, with experimental sections covering edge detection, image and speech recognition, etc.
The course “Edge Artificial Intelligence: Principles and Practice” was created by Professor Luis Pinuel Moreno and Professor Francisco D. Igual of the University of Compton in Madrid in collaboration with Professor Duan Xiaohui of Peking University. These materials are based on the profound professional knowledge of academic personnel, combined with current artificial intelligence technology, for students to participate in practical learning.
“Developing this course is an exciting and extremely beneficial challenge,” said Professor Luis Pinuel Moreno and Professor Francisco D. Igual of the University of Compton in Madrid. The needs of modern classrooms are clear, but the constantly evolving hardware and software require us to stand at the top of the ecosystem and provide high-quality resources and courses for students. “Therefore, our goal is to ensure that the course can continue and be tested and improved across a broad student community.”
Professor Duan Xiaohui of Peking University said, “Edge AI has been a basic course in our university for many years, because students are eager to learn the necessary skills for the future of AI.”. Our students have played a key role in creating this course and are proud to see their projects become part of the learning materials that will be used around the world. “Their perspectives and insights are crucial to creating truly compelling and accessible AI courses.”.
The complete course design includes eight experiments, accompanied by relevant handouts and corresponding teaching slides, as well as an introductory guide that covers the basic algorithms and typical applications of edge AI. It follows the form of case studies and is suitable for typical semester courses. All materials come with source files and can be used completely. This open and flexible approach enables academic institutions not only to teach a complete course, but also to customize or adapt it to the specific needs of each teacher.
The processor used in the course is Imagination’s GPU, and is connected to advanced artificial intelligence languages such as Tensor Flow through Imagination’s “NC SDK AC” neural computing software development kit (academic edition). The hardware used for this course is BeagleBoard.org ® BeagleBone launched in 2022 ® AI-64 board, provided by Digi Key, a global distributor.
Christine Long, CEO of BeagleBoard.org, said, “It’s great to see our close relationship with Imagination continue to grow.”. Their PowerVR SGX530 GPU appeared on the first BeagleBoard, and the 8XE family GPU was installed on our latest board, adding important features, including OpenCL support. “We want to ensure that the next generation of developers can get the right hardware and start their academic journey.”.
YC Wang, Global Academic Program Manager at DigiKey, said, “DigiKey is working closely with Imagination to promote RVfpga seminar activities worldwide.”. “Imagination’s newly released Edge AI course enables young engineers and computer science graduates to master edge AI knowledge, and we are pleased to be able to support it.”https://forum.stoneitech.com/
Comprehensive academic support
The Imagination Global University Project (IUP) provides a complete learning toolkit, and has previously launched two courses – Introduction to Mobile Graphics and RVfpga: Understanding Computer Architecture. The first course is a complete course on mobile graphics for undergraduate students, including a rich set of courses and materials, mainly around the PowerVR GPU of Imaging.
“RVfpga: Understanding Computer Architecture” is an innovative course designed for undergraduate students based on RISC-V computing architecture. This course contains a wide range of teaching materials and practical operations to help students understand the basics of processor architecture, such as IP cores, modifying RISC-V cores, and microarchitecture.
