Cutting Edge Innovation with FPGAs

Artificial intelligence, as it turns out, is just too useful to remain up in the cloud. Demand for local AI processing is increasing as smart devices want the intelligence without the internet connection. Everyone is talking about AI at the Edge and Terasic is no exception. In fact, it’s their theme for this summer’s InnovateFPGA design contest.

FPGA virtues. (Source: Terasic)

Teams from all over the world are currently submitting their project proposals to show off their takes on artificial intelligence. Various cash prizes and Terasic development kits will be awarded to the best projects at the regional and global levels.  The top three teams from each region also receive a trip to Tianjin, China to present their designs at the grand finals during the 2019 International Conference on Field-Programmable Technology.

One of the criteria that teams will be judged on is their demonstration of Intel’s three FPGA virtues. These are the benefits that FPGAs bring to processor systems: boosting performance, adapting to changes, and expanding I/O. With the theme of AI, performance will likely be a big focus as FPGAs outperform traditional processors on the matrix operations common in neural networks, machine vision, and other related applications.

This year’s contest offers developers the choice of two Intel Cyclone V SoC platforms to build their innovative FPGA designs on. The DE10-Nano Kit, the star of last year’s contest, returns and is now accompanied by the new OpenVINO Starter Kit, a PCIe card with nearly 3x the logic elements of the DE10-Nano. Participants are also welcome to use Intel’s OpenVINO deep learning toolkit which just so happens to pair quite well with Terasic’s starter kit of the same name.

OpenVINO Starter Kit block diagram. (Source: Terasic)

Project submissions were completed in June and the first round of voting is complete, but the regional finals have just begun and run from October 9^th through the 23^rd. If you haven’t already, you can register as a community member on the contest website. Being a registered community member allows you to vote for your favorite projects and ask questions or leave feedback for the participants. As a reward for those who actively participate in the community, Terasic is holding drawings for two DE10-Nano kits each week of the voting rounds.

There were a wide variety of projects submitted this year ranging from traffic control systems to mind reading EEG devices. Some of my personal favorites among the regional finalists are:

(Image source: Innovatefpga.com)

• AS026 – iOwlT: This project takes inspiration from the barn owl which can use sound to lock-on to its prey in the dark. However, instead of hunting for food, iOwlT aims to use the barn owl’s technique for locating gunshots. The current goal is increased security in urban areas or places where hunting is prohibited. Such a system can also be generalized to locating other sources of sound.

(Image source: Innovatefpga.com)

• AP053 – EEG Wheelchair Interface: Electric wheelchairs provide mobility and independence for people with physical disabilities, but generally require the use of a hand to operate. The goal of this project is to control a wheelchair using human thoughts (EEG) and make wheelchairs more accessible to those without the use of their hands.

(Image source: Innovatefpga.com)

• AP047- Real-Time Sign Language Translation: If you think of translating sign language, computer vision might be your first thought. Humans interpret sign language through sight after all. This project takes a different approach and uses IMUs along with the electrical activity generated by muscles (EMG) to classify gestures and translate them into 5 different languages. The output can be received as audio through a speaker or as a text transcript sent to a mobile phone.

Visit the InnovateFPGA Portal to register as a community member and start browsing the projects. Use your votes wisely and make sure your favorite projects win!