AI Chip Company Syntiant and Bearings Manufacturer CeramicSpeed to Develop Autonomous Wireless Sensors for Condition-based Monitoring

Collaboration Aimed at Reducing Costs through Predictive Maintenance in Industrial IoT Applications


IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Syntiant Corp., a provider of deep learning solutions making edge AI a reality for always-on applications, today announced a collaboration with Denmark-based CeramicSpeed to develop ultra-low-power autonomous sensors for Industrial IoT applications using the Syntiant® NDP120 Neural Decision Processor™.

Code named the Bearing Brain Project, CeramicSpeed plans to offer remote monitoring of industrial machinery with NDP120-embedded wireless sensors that will use AI to learn, detect and respond to operational anomalies at sub-milliwatt power consumption.

“The NDP120 stands out as the most flexible, neural co-processor available for battery-powered devices on the market today,” said Morten Opprud, tech lead of the Bearing Brain project at CeramicSpeed. “Syntiant’s deep learning technology enables us to easily develop highly accurate, low-power sensor devices for cloud-free edge processing that will yield meaningful predictive maintenance data in real time, while also allowing a battery lifetime of several years. The ability to easily program the NDP120 along with the capability to connect either microphones directly via PDM or accelerometers through the SPI in the built-in cortex M0 CPU gives us great flexibility during our initial deployment.”

Built using the Syntiant Core 2™ programmable deep learning architecture, the NDP120 is designed to natively run multiple deep neural networks on a variety of architectures, such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Recurrent Neural Network (RNNs) and fully connected networks. With support of up to 7 million parameters, the NDP120 processor provides the neural capability for accurate inference on challenging tasks such as multi-sensor processing and can run multiple applications simultaneously at under 1mW (milliwatt).

“Until now, predictive maintenance and condition-based monitoring usually has been done in the cloud,” said Kurt Busch, CEO of Syntiant. “Our NDP120 is ideal for industrial condition-based monitoring applications like the Bearing Brain project, enabling CeramicSpeed to move prediction and forecasting down to the battery-powered sensor device itself to reduce or eliminate unforeseen maintenance costs. Our technology can continuously monitor sounds, vibrations and even temperature with minimal drain on power consumption, extending battery life by months or years, while improving performance, productivity and efficiency across a wide range of manufacturing applications.”

As the only device on the market today that natively processes machine learning layers directly, the NDP120 deterministically matches simulated and real-life performance, eliminating the need for compilers, greatly reducing time to market and assuring expected performance.

Available for product demonstrations by the middle of 2022, CeramicSpeed’s condition-based monitoring device with the Syntiant NDP120 includes vibration sensors and accelerometers and will deliver 8-times battery life compared to traditional MCU-based processors.

About Syntiant
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Irvine, Calif., Syntiant Corp. is a leader in delivering end-to-end deep learning solutions for always-on applications by combining purpose-built silicon with an edge-optimized data platform and training pipeline. Syntiant’s advanced chip solutions merge deep learning with semiconductor design to produce ultra-low-power, high performance, deep neural network processors for edge AI applications across a wide range of consumer and industrial use cases, from earbuds to automobiles. The company is backed by several of the world’s leading strategic and financial investors including Intel Capital, Microsoft’s M12, Applied Ventures, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, the Amazon Alexa Fund and Atlantic Bridge Capital. Syntiant continues to be recognized as an industry leader, being named to Gartner's April 2020 Cool Vendors in AI Semiconductors; Fast Company’s prestigious list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2020; as well as a CES® 2021 Innovation Awards Honoree and CES® 2020 Best of Innovation Awards Honoree. More information on the company can be found by visiting www.syntiant.com or by following Syntiant on Twitter @Syntiantcorp.
 
About CeramicSpeed
Established in 2004, CeramicSpeed is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of ceramic bearing products and optimised racing chains for the cycling industry. Based in Denmark, the company has offices across Europe, Asia and the United States and distributes its products to more than 50 countries for use in consumer and industrial applications. The company also is the only bearings producer to receive FDA approval for direct contact with food products. More information can be found by visiting https://www.ceramicspeed.com.

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