Vendor: Kneron Category: Edge AI Accelerator

Neural network processor designed for edge devices

Kneron NPU IP Series are neural network processors that have been designed for edge devices.

Overview

Kneron NPU IP Series are neural network processors that have been designed for edge devices. These processors provide high computing performance with low power consumption and are small in size. Kneron NPU IP Series can be applied to smart homes, smart surveillance, smartphones, and wearable devices that have high requirement for low power and space. The entire product consumes under 0.5W and can even drop below 5mW for specific applications.

Key features

  • High energy efficiency
    • All series reach higher than 1.5 TOPS/W.
  • Support mainstream deep learning frameworks
    • Caffe, Keras, TensorFlow, and ONNX.
  • Low power consumption
    • Under 0.5W and can be less than 5 mW for specific applications.
  • An integrated AI solution
    • Include hardware IP, compiler, and model compression.
  • Deep compression technology
    • Compresses not only models but also data and coefficients during computing to reduce memory use.
  • Filter decomposition and convolution acceleration
    • Divides a large-scale convolutional block into a number of smaller ones for parallel computing and then integrates and accelerates the results.
  • CNN model support optimization
    • Supports diverse CNN models, including Vgg16, Resnet, GoogleNet, YOLO, Tiny YOLO, Lenet, MobileNet, and Densenet with model specific performance optimization.
  • Interleaving computation architecture
    • Enable parallel convolution computing and pooling to improve overall performance. The convolution layer can support both 8- and 16-bits fixed points concurrently.
  • Adaptive data structure
    • Adjusts the data structure dynamically to improve MAC efficiency depending on changing demand.
  • Dynamic storage resource configuration
    • Allows more efficient resource allocation between shared memory and operational memory. Increases storage resource utilization without affecting performance.

Specifications

Identity

Part Number
Kneron NPU IP
Vendor
Kneron
Type
Silicon IP

Files

Note: some files may require an NDA depending on provider policy.

Provider

Kneron
HQ: USA
Kneron is the leading provider of edge AI solutions. It was founded in San Diego in 2015, providing software and hardware integrated AI solutions, including neural processing unit (NPU), a dedicated edge AI device processor, and a range of visual recognition software for customers worldwide. Kneron is currently headquartered in San Diego, and has offices in Taipei, Hsinchu, Shenzhen and Zhuhai. Kneron announced the completion of series A financing in November, 2017. Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund and CDIB Capital Group are the lead investors, and Himax Technologies Inc, Qualcomm, Thundersoft, Sequoia Capital (sub fund: Cloudatlas), and CY ZONE as co-investors. Kneron also completed series A1 financing led by Horizons Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by Ka-shing Li, in May 2018.

Learn more about Edge AI Accelerator IP core

RISC-V Based TinyML Accelerator for Depthwise Separable Convolutions in Edge AI

While lightweight architectures like MobileNetV2 employ Depthwise Separable Convolutions (DSC) to reduce computational complexity, their multi-stage design introduces a critical performance bottleneck inherent to layer-by-layer execution: the high energy and latency cost of transferring intermediate feature maps to either large on-chip buffers or off-chip DRAM. To address this memory wall, this paper introduces a novel hardware accelerator architecture that utilizes a fused pixel-wise dataflow.

Accelerating Your Development: Simplify SoC I/O with a Single Multi-Protocol SerDes IP

Enter the Multi-Protocol SerDes (Serializer/Deserializer)—a flexible, reusable IP block that allows a single PHY to support multiple serial communication protocols, such as PCIe, SATA, Ethernet, USB, and more. This approach enables SoC vendors to meet diverse customer requirements and application needs without redesigning I/O for each target market.

Frequently asked questions about Edge AI Accelerator IP cores

What is Neural network processor designed for edge devices?

Neural network processor designed for edge devices is a Edge AI Accelerator IP core from Kneron listed on Semi IP Hub.

How should engineers evaluate this Edge AI Accelerator?

Engineers should review the overview, key features, supported foundries and nodes, maturity, deliverables, and provider information before shortlisting this Edge AI Accelerator IP.

Can this semiconductor IP be compared with similar products?

Yes. Buyers can compare this product with similar semiconductor IP cores or IP families based on category, provider, process options, and structured technical specifications.

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