Taiwanese firm Via Technologies has launched the VAB-950 board powered by the MediaTek i500 AIoT platform for use in smart devices for home, commercial, industrial and educational use cases.

It combines AI technology for display, object recognition and voice with wireless and IO connectivity.

“As AI moves increasingly to the edge, the demand for smart devices with powerful edge processing, computer vision and multimedia capabilities is growing at an unprecedented rate,” said Richard Brown, vice president at Via Technologies. “The Via VAB-950 provides the fastest and most dependable path for taking advantage of this huge market opportunity by creating innovative devices that deliver unique user experiences.”

The board is based on an Epic 14 by 10cm form factor and is available for sale worldwide. Features include:

• MediaTek i500 octa-core processor with integrated AI processor supporting edge processing, multimedia capabilities, multiple high-resolution cameras, connected touchscreen displays and multi-tasking.
• Wireless and network connectivity including SIM card slot for LTE and 4G, dual-band 802.11ac wifi, Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth 5.0.
• IO including four USB 2.0 ports, one RS232 Com port, and HDMI, Mipi DSI and Mipi CSI-2 display and camera support.
• Storage including 16Gbyte eMMC 5.1 flash memory and a Micro SD card slot.
• Yocto 2.6 and Android 10 BSP.

Hardware and software customisation services that speed time to market and reduce development costs are also available.

“Over the next few years, we foresee very strong demand for powerful and efficient AIoT chipsets to enable the next generation of AI voice and vision devices,” said Henry Yeh, assistant general manager at MediaTek. “With the new Via VAB-950 board, powered by MediaTek’s i500 AIoT chipset, brands can speed up development time and bring to market innovative, differentiated devices for a wide range of applications.”

Via Technologies uses AI, IoT and computer vision technology in smart products for transportation, industrial, smart city and data centre applications. Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, its global network links the high-tech centres of the USA, Asia, and Europe, and spans a customer base that includes many hi-tech, industrial and transportation companies.