New Product Post – Vision AI Sensor, Supporting LoRaWAN and RS485
Introducing two new products: IP66-rated Vision AI Cameras, supporting communication protocols of LoRaWAN, MODBUS RS485, and Wi-Fi.
Halloo Everyone, welcome to this blog!
The main topic is NEW PRODUCTS! And the keywords are LoRaWAN and Vision AI. You would wonder, “your devices has a camera and it is LoRaWAN?” Yes indeed! I know, I know! You would tell me “You can’t send images or videos via LoRaWAN because the ‘message’ is too large”, or someone else would say “Technically you can, but you need to ‘slice’ the large images or videos to send them ‘bit by bit’ and ‘piece them together’ aferward. Then why bother?”
What if I tell you, you don’t have to send the images or videos? Think about it, the goal is to get the results captured by the camera, not tons of irrelevant footage. In this case, as long as you can get the results, there is no need to send large images or videos.
Without further ado, here comes the intro of our main cast of this post – SenseCAP A1102, an IP66-rated LoRaWAN® Vision AI Sensor, ideal for low-power, long-range TinyML Edge AI applications. It comes with 3 pre-deployed models (human detection, people counting, and meter reading) by default. Meanwhile, with SenseCraft AI platform [Note 1], you can use the pre-trained models or train your customized models conveniently within a few clicks. Of course, SenseCAP A1102 also supports TensorFlow Lite and PyTorch.
This Device consists of two main parts: the AI Camera and the LoRaWAN Data Logger. While different technologies are integrated in this nifty device, I would like to highlight 4 key aspects:
- Advanced AI Processor
As a vision AI Sensor, SenseCAP A1102 proudly adopted the advanced Himax WiseEye2 HX6538 processor featuring a dual-core Arm Cortex-M55 and integrated Arm Ethos-U55. (The same AI processor as in Grove Vision AI v2 Kit.) This ensures a high performance in vision processing.
Meanwhile, please keep in mind that lighting and distance will affect the performance, which is common for applications that involve cameras. According to our testing, SenseCAP A1102 can achieve 70% confidence for results within 1 ~ 5 meters in normal lighting.
- Low-Power Consumption, Long-Range Communication
SenseCAP A1102 is built with Wio E5 Module featuring STM32WLE5JC, ARM Cortex M4 MCU, and Semtech SX126X. This ensures low-power consumption and long-range communication, as in SenseCAP S210X LoRaWAN Environmental sensors. Supporting a wide range of 863MHz – 928MHz frequency, you can order the same device for different stages of your projects in multiple continents, saving time, manpower, and costs in testing, inventory management, and shipment, etc.
SenseCAP A1102 opens up new possibilities to perceive the world. The same hardware with different AI models, you have different sensors for detecting “objects” (fruits, poses, and animals) or reading meters (in scale or digits), and many more. With the IP66 rating (waterproof and dustproof), it can endure long-term deployment in outdoor severe environments.
We understand interoperability is important. As a standard LoRaWAN device, SenseCAP A1102 can be used with any standard LoRaWAN gateways. When choosing SenseCAP Outdoor Gateway or SenseCAP M2 Indoor Gateway, it is easier for configuration and provisioning.
- Easy Set-up and Configure with SenseCraft App
We provide SenseCraft App and SenseCAP Web Portal for you to set up, configure, and manage the devices & data more easily.
At SenseCraft App, you can change settings with simple clicks such as choose the platform, change the frequency for the specific region, change data upload intervals (5 ~ 1440min), or packet policy (2C+1N, 1C, 1N) and other settings.
You can see the live and historical data of your devices on both SenseCraft App and SenseCAP Web Portal easily.
When using SenseCAP Sensors and SenseCAP gateways, you can also choose to use SenseCAP cloud platform, which is free for 6 months for each devices and then it is 0.99usd/device/month, or you can choose to use your own platform or other 3rd-party platforms. We offer API supporting MQTT and HTTP.
- Wi-Fi Connectivity for Transmitting Key Frames
Inside the AI Camera part of this device sits a tiny-yet-powerful XIAO ESP32C3, which is powered by new RISC-V architecture. This adds Wi-Fi connectivity to SenseCAP A1102. In the applications, you can get the reference results via LoRaWAN and at the same time get the key frames via Wi-Fi to validate or further analyze.
While we always demonstrate how much we love LoRaWAN for its ultra-low-power consumption and ultra-long-range communication by continuously adding more and more products in the portfolio of our LoRaWAN products family. We also understand some people might prefer other communication protocols. Rest assured, we have options for you. As mentioned above, we value interoperability a lot. Here comes to the intro of another important cast of this post: RS485 Vision AI Camera!
RS485 Vision AI Camera is a robust vision AI sensor that supports MODBUS-RS485 [Note 2] protocol and Wi-Fi Connectivity. Simply put, it is the camera part of the SenseCAP A1102, which adopts the Himax AI Processor for AI performance. Its IP66 rating makes it suitable for both indoor and outdoor applications.
You can use RS485 Vision AI Camera with SenseCAP Sensor Hub 4G Data Logger to transmit the reference results via 4G. If your existing devices or systems support MODBUS-RS485, you can connect it with this RS485 Vision AI Camera for your applications.
In this post, we introduced SenseCAP A1102 and RS485 Vision AI Camera. I hope you like them and will get your hands on these devices for your projects soon! I already envision this device used in different applications from smart home, office, and building managetment to smart agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and many others. And we look forward to seeing your applications!
If you’ve been using Seeed products or following our updates, you might have noticed that the expertise of Seeed products and services is in smart sensing and edge computing. While we’ve developed a rich collection of products in (1) sensor networks that collect different real-world data and transmit via different communication protocols, and (2) edge computing that brings computing power and AI capabilities to the edge. I think we can say that Seeed is strong in smart sensing, communication, and edge computing.
There are many more new products on the Seeed roadmap for us to get a deeper perception of the world with AI-powered insight and actions. Stay tuned!
Last but not the least, we understand that you might have requirements in product features, functionalities, or form factors for your specific applications, we offer a wide range of customization services based on the existing standard products. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us, to share your experience, your thoughts about new products, wishes for new features, or ideas for cooperation possibilities! Reach us at iot[at]seeed[dot]cc! Thank you!
[Note 1: If you do not know it yet, SenseCraft AI is a web-base platform for AI applications. No-code. Beginner-friendly. I joined the livestream on YouTube with dearest Meilily to introduce this platform last week. If you are interested, check the recording here.]
[Note 2: MODBUS RS485 is a widely-used protocol for many industrial applications. You can learn more here about MODBUS and RS485, and you can explore the full range of all RS485 products here.]
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This is a really impressive integration of AI and LoRaWAN! I’m curious, besides human detection and meter reading, what other industries could benefit from this type of technology? For instance, could this sensor be adapted for smart agriculture or factory automation?
I love the focus on efficiency here with the low-power consumption and AI-driven results. I wonder, could this be used to enhance real-time monitoring of remote locations, such as environmental or wildlife monitoring?