Imagination, Elvees to churn out video analytics SoC platform

Article By : Christoph Hammerschmidt

The Elise SoC from Elvees, based on a multimedia/video IP platform from Imagination, will flaunt an innovative architecture to fulfil the needs of high-performance mobile computing and video analytics.

Elvees, an ASIC expert company that developed the Elvees Image Semantic Engine (Elise), has joined forces with IP provider Imagination Technologies to develop an SoC platform for various video analytics applications. The first version has been taped out, opening up the perspective for powerful video processing in a very small form factor, the companies stated.

The Elise SoC from Elvees will introduce an innovative architecture to fulfil the needs of both high-performance mobile computing and video analytics. The devices are based on a high-performance, energy-efficient multimedia/video IP platform from Imagination. Elise combines a range of functionality including blocks for pre-processing and post-processing of stereo video at ultra-high resolutions; a range of CPUs for high-, medium- and low-profile tasks; a high-end mobile GPU; and a multicore standard navigation engine.

Companies can use the Elise chip to develop a generation of IP cameras with video analysis and a range of OEM modules. Elise will bring this technology to a spectrum of multimedia devices, including tablets, communications products and navigation terminals.

Video analytics, the processing and understanding of video streams, is important for many emerging markets including: autonomous automobiles: featuring advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS); Internet of Things (IoT) applications where the camera is a key 'sensor'; Smart cities: based on innovative IP cameras with real-time monitoring; retail/smarter shops: with augmented reality and next-generation security with safety everywhere; mobile devices: for a myriad of applications from augmented reality and visual search to simply more feature-rich cameras; and consumer multimedia, home entertainment and enterprise, where existing markets are evolving to embrace the potential of video analytics.

Video analytics hardware and software complexity are increasing exponentially, requiring quadrillions of operations per second, with more and more functionality. The strategic collaboration between Elvees and Imagination was based on a shared belief that joint efforts will bring much stronger and more effective results for development of next-generation video analytics technology where application and domain knowledge are essential. The partnership is enabling both companies to drive innovation with more rapid deployment of key technologies and products.

For the Elise SoC that was manufactured in the TSMC 28 HPM process, Elvees licensed a portfolio of Imagination's IP and platforms including: An integrated PowerVR Vision IP platform that combines a PowerVR GX6250 GPU, a PowerVR V2500 imaging processor (ISP), a PowerVR E4500 video encoder and a PowerVR D5500 video decoder, saving power and bandwidth for camera applications; a dual-core high-performance MIPS Warrior P5602 CPU, as well as an energy-efficient multi-threaded MIPS interAptiv CPU and MIPS Warrior M5150 MCU-class CPU, altogether delivering superior acceleration for compute-intensive video analytics applications and audio processing; and Ensigma Explorer C4250 connectivity processors (RPUs) that provide high-performance on-chip WiFi and Bluetooth to support future wireless multi-dimension video analytics cameras

Imagination's IP was complemented by the specialised, but programmable Elvees 8-?luster video processor (Velcore2) with accelerator IP cores that provides the foundation for such capabilities as 4K rate stereo streams for facial recognition, augmented reality and more.

Hierarchical tools and libraries for Elise tools also have been developed, including libraries for the Khronos OpenVX API and the innovative VIPE tool for vision and general purpose algorithm development on mixed multi-platform CPU/Velcore/GPU SoC systems.

The Elise SoC is expected to be available from Elvees in 4Q16.