The Coral Dev Board is a development platform designed by Google to facilitate on-device machine learning (ML) and AI applications. It features the Edge TPU, a specialized chip optimized for running TensorFlow Lite ML models at high speed and low power. This makes it ideal for applications requiring fast inference at the edge, such as vision, speech, and IoT use cases.
Key Features
- Edge TPU Processor:
- Accelerates TensorFlow Lite ML models with low latency and high efficiency.
- Handles up to 4 TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second).
- System-on-Module (SoM):
- Combines an NXP i.MX 8M SoC (quad-core ARM Cortex-A53), GPU, and the Edge TPU.
- Includes 1 GB LPDDR4 RAM and 8 GB eMMC storage.
- Connectivity:
- Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n/ac)
- Bluetooth 4.1
- I/O Interfaces:
- GPIO, I2C, SPI, UART, PWM for hardware control.
- USB 3.0 for high-speed data transfers.
- MIPI-DSI and MIPI-CSI interfaces for display and camera connectivity.
- Operating System:
- Runs Mendel Linux, a lightweight Debian-based distribution tailored for ML applications.
- Flexibility:
- Compact form factor for prototyping.
- Edge TPU is compatible with various TensorFlow Lite models.
Use Cases
- Real-time image recognition.
- Object detection and tracking.
- Speech recognition and natural language processing.
- Smart IoT devices.
- Robotics.
Development Ecosystem
- TensorFlow Lite Models: Pre-trained models or custom-trained ones can be optimized for the Edge TPU.
- Coral Tools: Includes a Python API and tools for model conversion and optimization.
- Supported Frameworks: TensorFlow, OpenCV, and others compatible with TensorFlow Lite.
Advantages
- High-speed ML inference directly on the device.
- Low latency and low power consumption.
- Ease of integration into IoT and embedded systems.