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Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—Will Deep Learning Displace All Other Computer Vision Techniques?

It's remarkable to see the range of applications in which deep neural networks are proving effective – often, significantly more effective than previously known techniques. From speech recognition to ranking web search results to object recognition, each day brings a new product or published paper with a new challenge tamed by deep learning. Computer vision, of course, is a field with significant deep learning activity. Deep learning is particularly appealing for visual perception because Read more...

Case Study: Hands-On Experience Delivers Insights Into Technologies and Trends for Deep Learning

One of the most interesting resources for those interested in the rapidly growing field of deep learning is the "Cognitive Computing Startup List," compiled by Chris Rowan of Cognite Ventures. As of February 21, Chris had identified 275 companies that are, in his words, "the most focused, the most active and the most innovative…." These were culled from various lists of companies that tout artificial intelligence and deep learning. Such companies number in the thousands—the sheer number is a Read more...

Himax, CEVA, emza Partner to Develop Low Power Vision Processing Platform

Image-sensor maker Himax, processor core vendor CEVA, and algorithm provider emza Visual Sense have partnered to develop a low-power "always on" vision sensor module with integrated visual analytics. The three companies offered a conceptual demonstration of the product, dubbed the WiseEye IoT vision sensor, at last month's Consumer Electronics Show. Assuming that WiseEye IoT is able to perform with sufficient accuracy and frame rates, with its target power consumption of 5-10 mW for common Read more...

Case Study: Deep Understanding of Processor Architectures and Computer Vision Algorithms is Key to a Breakthrough Product

Computer vision promises to be the key to the next set of "killer apps"—computer vision-enabled apps that will leverage artificial intelligence to help keep us safer and healthier. But computer vision algorithms are compute- and power-intensive, and need to process large amounts of data. These barriers have limited their use to enterprise, line-powered devices and cloud-assisted mobile devices. The implementation of computer vision algorithms on mobile processors, where compute resources are Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—Energy-efficient Processors are Critical for Embedded Vision

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, I walked many miles and saw countless demos. Several of these demos were memorable, but one in particular really got my mental gears turning: Microsoft’s HoloLens. HoloLens, of course, is Microsoft’s “mixed reality” glasses product, which has been shipping in pre-production form for about a year. (Previously, I would have used the term “augmented reality” to refer to HoloLens, which overlays computer-generated graphics on the user’s view of the Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—Will Computer Vision Upend the Automotive Industry?

Earlier this week, Google announced the spin-off of its self-driving car project into a stand-alone business. Will Google become a major player in the automotive industry? Today, that idea seems far-fetched. On the other hand, 15 years ago Apple was a personal computer company, and few would have guessed that it would eventually become a dominant player in consumer electronics and photography. The Google announcement resonated with me in light of a fascinating recent presentation by Mark Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—What Hand-Eye Coordination Tells Us About Computer Vision

For humans, it goes without saying that vision is extremely valuable. When you stop to think about it, it’s remarkable what a diverse set of capabilities is enabled by human vision – from reading facial expressions, to navigating complex three-dimensional spaces (whether by foot, bicycle, car, or otherwise), to performing intricate tasks like threading a needle. One of the reasons why I’m so excited about the potential of computer vision is that I believe that it will bring a similar range of Read more...

Case Study: Careful Analysis Leads to Successful Products

Processor vendors and system designers share a common concern: how to make sure their products meet customer needs. For processor vendors, a key challenge is to design architectures with enough performance to meet the demands of current and anticipated applications while staying within acceptable power and cost constraints, and enabling good software developer productivity. Fundamentally, processor designers need to bring together the demands of algorithm workloads together with the Read more...

The CEVA-XM6 Vision Processor Core Boosts Performance for Embedded Deep Learning Applications

Hard on the heels of the public release of CEVA's second-generation convolutional neural network toolset, CDNN2, the company is putting the final touches on its fifth-generation processor core, the CEVA-XM6, designed to run software generated by that toolset. Liran Bar, the company's Director of Product Marketing, acknowledged in a recent briefing that the new core represents an evolutionary step, versus revolutionary break, from its predecessors: the CEVA-MM3101 (introduced in 2012) and the Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—Putting the Reality in Augmented and Virtual Reality

Based on the pace of investment and acquisitions, and the level of buzz (some would say "hype") surrounding augmented reality and virtual reality, it is obvious that these technologies are hot. With good reason, I think. Augmented and virtual reality have long held enormous promise, but the challenge of making them work robustly – along with the cost, size and power consumption of the necessary hardware – have severely limited their use. In the past few years, though, what had been steady Read more...