Innodisk’s new FPGA platform for machine vision

A key technology in modern manufacturing is automated defect inspection based on machine vision. Automated visual inspection guarantees that the product functions as expected and meets specifications. It is crucial that a fast and highly accurate inspection system is used. Without AI, every product must be inspected manually. This takes an average of about three seconds per piece. With the help of AI solutions such as the EXMU-X261 FPGA machine vision platform, product inspection in manufacturing is fully automated. The end result is not only faster and more cost-effective, but also eliminates human error.

Innodisk’s FPGA machine vision platform has a range of expansion and connectivity options. The solution has a long product life cycle and high flexibility. Interfaces include 1 x HDMI 1.4, 4 x USB 3.1 Gen1, 1 x GbE LAN and 1 x 15pin connector strip (GPIOx5, UARTx1, CANbus x2, I2C x1). Other features include 1 x M.2 @2242 M-key: NVME SSD and PCIe expansion modules, 1x M.2 @2230 A-key: WiFi/BT modules and a Micro SD slot. A Cortex-A53 quad-core subsystem with 256K system memory and 1.4 TOPS AI processing power and H.264/265 video codec are used. With platform support for operating temperatures from 0°C to +70°C and optional support for industrial temperatures from -40°C to +85°C, the EXMU-X261 is rugged enough for very harsh industrial environments. In addition, the EXMU-X261 supports Innodisk’s InnoAgent out-of-band remote management module, so the platform can be managed remotely from anywhere, even in the event of a system crash or in-band network failure. Automated systems can be run completely unmanned, reducing staffing and maintenance costs.

Time-to-market is greatly reduced by using AMD’s Xilinx Kria K26 SOM. The EXMU-X261 FPGA machine vision platform fully supports Innodisk’s AI Suite SDK. The suite includes Innodisk’s in-house software solutions such as iCAP (Innodisk Cloud Administration Platform) and iVIT (Innodisk Vision Intelligence Toolkit). iVIT provides a deep learning environment for efficient development and deployment of solutions without code operation.