As for AI, intelligence at the edge will augment everything from smart security cameras monitoring homes and businesses to autonomous robots transforming assembly lines. For example, smart cameras throughout a factory can constantly monitor equipment to predict faults and shut down the equipment quickly before a catastrophic failure, avoiding the delays inherent in sending data to the cloud for processing. Devices such as TI’s AM6xA vision processors provide the processing power and efficiency necessary to bring the necessary intelligence within the factory environment.
Time-to-market will be critical to companies striving to bring AI to the smart home, factory, and city. Easy-to-use processors coupled with capable development ecosystems will allow engineers to spend more time innovating and differentiating their products and less time wrestling with complex proprietary design tools.
“That is why I am committed to strengthening our company’s use of industry-standard and open-source software, community development platforms, and unified software development environments,” said Wasson. He adds that TI offers the design resources that allow for engineers to leverage the knowledge and experience of experts so that they can design efficiently and bring products to market rapidly.
Simplifying Embedded Development
TI design resources that help facilitate embedded development center around the TI Developer Zone, a comprehensive collection of easy-to-use hardware and software tools that helps engineers quickly turn ideas into schematics. They can plug in their target boards and find themselves coding on the desktop or in the cloud in minutes.
According to John Stevenson, TI’s development tools product manager, the TI Developer Zone is an online environment dedicated to helping users of TI’s processors, microcontrollers, wireless connectivity devices, and radar sensors. He said, “Whether you are just starting evaluation or ready for more significant work, the TI Developer Zone is the place to go to bring your idea to the next level.”
The TI Developer Zone combines advanced development tools with examples and training materials specific to the particular TI device or board chosen by an engineer, eliminating the need to wade through irrelevant content. The TI Developer Zone lets you get started working in the cloud, where you can access cloud-based tools through a browser, avoiding the need to download and install software. One such tool is TI’s Code Composer Studio Cloud, which presents a simple user interface accessible from anywhere.
In addition, a system-configuration tool called SysConfig (Fig. 2) enables you to configure system power, flash controllers, interrupts, clock trees, and other functions. It automatically detects and resolves resource conflicts to simplify hardware and software setup. You simply select peripherals, modes, and settings, and SysConfig generates the necessary configuration code.