Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company Himax Technologies and Chinese IoT hardware firm Seeed Studio are this week jointly showing the SenseCap A1101 LoRaWan vision AI sensor at CES in Las Vegas.

The sensor is embedded with Himax’s WiseEye smart image sensing.

Seeed Studio, with its TinyML edge AI platform, created the plug-and-play and A1101 vision sensor that runs machine learning in support of various AI models, such as image recognition, people counting, target detection and meter recognition. This battery-powered sensor incorporates Himax’s HM0360 CMOS image sensor, supporting up to 60frame/s VGA, and WiseEye WE1 AI processor, running at 400MHz local inferencing that facilitates machine learning at low power consumption, as well as a LoRaWan module.

At CES, Himax and Seeed Studio are showing the sensor, which has already been applied to real smart agriculture cases. It can operate for over nine months while continuously collecting field images and uploading the final data from local inferencing every minute.

The vision AI sensor hardware can handle an operating temperature of -40 to +85˚C and has IP66 waterproof rating, making it suitable for IoT applications either in outdoor or indoor argo-ecosystems. The sensor also supports rapid configuration of the Bluetooth app, and fast connection to gateways and cloud servers, with only a few clicks setup.

“We’re really happy and honoured to work with Himax to embed WiseEye in this vision AI device,” said Joey Jiang, general manager at Seeed Studio. “To be the most reliable IoT hardware partner for global developers, we at Seeed are always looking to integrate advanced technologies into ready-to-deploy hardware for digital transformation in vertical industries. Working with Himax is yet another step forward in Seeed’s vision to empower every developer to achieve their digital transformation goals with vision AI technology. With the SenseCap A1101 LoRaWan vision AI sensor, developers can combine vision and LPWAN to their IoT to serve various scenarios of smart farming, smart metering and more.”

Jordan Wu, CEO of Himax, added: “WiseEye has been proven in the notebook and many other applications, including automatic meter reading, automotive, surveillance and smart office and home, just to name a few. Seeed Studio is one of the leading AI platforms in the world and our collaboration in the smart agriculture application is a further validation of the suitability of our WiseEye technology to a wide range of markets. The demand for battery-powered smart devices with AI-enabled smart sensing is rapidly growing providing an opportunity for us to further expand by joining forces with other AI platform partners by offering value-added features for our customers in terms of privacy, security and superior battery life for diversified endpoint AI devices.”

Since 2008, Seeed Studio has been working closely with global technology ecosystems to provide hardware modules, devices and related services. It integrates technology into thousands of open-source hardware modules so millions of developers, makers and innovators coming from different backgrounds can innovate interdependently.

Himax Technologies is a fabless semiconductor provider dedicated to display imaging processing technologies. It specialises in display driver ICs and timing controllers used in TVs, laptops, monitors, mobile phones, tablets, automotive, digital cameras, car navigation, virtual reality devices and other consumer electronics devices. Additionally, Himax designs and provides controllers for touch sensor displays, in-cell touch and display driver integration single chips, AMOLED ICs, LED driver ICs, power management ICs and LCoS micro-displays for augmented reality devices and heads-up displays for automotive.

The company also offers CMOS image sensors, wafer level optics for AR devices, 3D sensing and low-power WiseEye smart image sensing, used in applications such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, TVs, PC cameras, automobiles, security, medical devices, home appliances and AIoT.

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Tainan, Taiwan, Himax employs around 2100 people from three Taiwan-based offices in Tainan, Hsinchu and Taipei and overseas offices in China, Korea, Japan, Germany and the USA. Himax has 2980 patents granted and 417 patents pending approval worldwide.