STMicroelectronics has launched a range of industrial microcontrollers equipped with neural processing units. The STM32N6 series embeds deep learning allowing computer vision, audio processing, sound analysis and other AI and ML algorithms in an industrial embedded system.

Early adopters of the STM32N6 range include LG Electronics, Lenovo Research and Alps Alpine.

“The STM32N6 delivers remarkable AI performance and provides excellent flexibility in a small silicon package ideal for embedded systems and wearable devices. The inference speed, powered by the groundbreaking Neural-ART Accelerator, has exceeded our expectations and ST’s developer-friendly software tools let us seamlessly integrate our AI models into the MCU,” said Yehan Ahn, Task Leader, R&D, LG Electronics CTO Division.

“We have rigorously evaluated ST’s latest microcontroller, STM32N6, in our labs, noting its outstanding neural processing performance and excellent power efficiency. This microcontroller represents the beginning of a new era, accelerating our research of “AI for All” technologies at the edge,” said Seiichi Kawano, Principal Researcher, Lenovo Research.

“The speed and efficiency of the Neural-ART Accelerator, combined with extensive peripheral device expandability, lets us create compact devices that can execute many sensor-based AI inferences and deliver diverse and enhanced user experiences,” said Christian Fuchs, Senior Project Leader, Alps Alpine.

“We are on the verge of a significant transformation at the tiny edge. This transformation involves the increasing augmentation or replacement of our customers’ workloads by AI models. Currently, these models are used for tasks such as segmentation, classification, and recognition. In the future, they will be applied to new applications yet to be developed,” said Remi El-Ouazzane, President, Microcontrollers, Digital ICs and RF Products Group (MDRF) at STMicroelectronics. “The STM32N6 is the first STM32 product to feature our Neural-ART Accelerator NPU. It will utilise a new release of our unique AI software ecosystem package. This marks the beginning of a long journey of AI hardware-accelerated STM32, which will enable innovations in applications and products in ways not possible with any other embedded processing solution.”

“It is a common misconception that AI is purely a big datacentre, power hungry application,” said Tom Hackenberg, Principal Analyst, Memory and Computing Group at Yole Group. “This is no longer true. Today’s IoT edge applications are hungry for the kind of analytics that AI can provide. The STM32N6 is a great example of the new trend melding energy-efficient Microcontroller workloads with the power of AI analytics to provide computer vision and mass sensor driven performance capable of great savings in the total cost of ownership in modern equipment.”