MediaTek continues to advance its groundbreaking work and push into the Internet of Things (IoT). The company announced new partnerships and a new platform reliant on the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to offer new and innovative experiences for consumers.
For the uninitiated, MediaTek is the world leader in supporting voice-assisted technology. Think about Alexa and how useful they have become in many homes around the globe. MediaTek powers the vast majority of these types of gadgets, including TV sticks, soundbars, smart displays, and speakers. In the future, the company foresees that its latest platform will solidify this type of technology even more.
MediaTek classifies its IoT products into three types: AI vision devices (security systems, drones, and robots); screen and display devices (exercise equipment and smart thermostats); and voice-enabled devices (white goods, smart locks, and speakers).
To target these products, MediaTek developed a series of chipsets based on industry standards. Additionally, each was designed with open-source software with partners including StreamUnlimited, Seeed, and BayLibre.
The company has not put out official word about the AI components, GPUs, and CPUs involved in each system-on-a-chip, but the company has a lot to choose from, such as its tablet SoC and audio SoC. What's known for now is that each chipset is designed and optimized for powerful, efficient computing and low-power consumption.
The IoT evaluation kit checks a lot of the requirements AI-based product designers would want to patronize. For one thing, they are based on the 4.19 Linux Kernel with support for Yocto 2.6 and Android 9 Pie. They also support LTE 4G and Wi-Fi 5, they are OP-TEE compatible, and they include the full Amazon Voice Service suite with far-field voice detection and similar.
According to MediaTek, the chipsets will include up to seven years of support for OS and security patches and rely on Arm's TrustZone security. It did not say when the evaluation kits will be made available to its partners, nor did the company informed when its partners might produce products based on the chipsets to market.
"We are bringing AI to mainstream Internet of Things products to make it easier for diverse industries to access MediaTek chipsets and technologies through a value-add partner network," said Jerry Yu, MediaTek Corporate Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Intelligent Devices Business Group.
MediaTek isn't wrong to invest in IoT, and they are right to think that AI is the key. We've seen a huge rise of AI-powered gadgets over the past year, and we have Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and ultra-low-power hardware to thank.
