Kneron

Kneron

Company Profile:

Founded in 2015, Kneron is headquartered in San Diego. Founder Albert Liu graduated from National Cheng Kung University, received his PhD from UCLA, and subsequently worked at Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics and MStar, developing advanced AI systems.
Proprietary Reconfigurable Architecture to Bring Efficient AI Solutions On-Device.

The KL520 edge AI chip is a culmination of Kneron s core technologies, combining proprietary software and hardware designs to create a highly efficient and ultra low-power Neural Processing Unit (NPU). Running AI computations on the end device will help generate real-time insights without relying on the cloud.

In particular, KL520 is equipped with a unique reconfigurable architecture which allows the chip to run a number of different convolutional neural networks (CNN) based on different applications, regardless of its kernel size, architecture requirements or input size. In turn, the chip is able to achieve a very high MAC (multiply accumulate unit) efficiency, a key metric for efficient computation. This software innovation allows the chip to dynamically adjust its function based on applications needs, in order to achieve maximum efficiency. The KL520 is also equipped with a proprietary compression technology that is able to compress a large AI neural network into a very small footprint to process on the edge device, without sacrificing large amounts of power.

Kneron s software and hardware innovations are truly a breakthrough in the development of edge AI. By bringing elements of reconfigurability and compression onto the chip, the KL520 is bringing AI computation to various end-devices that operate under low-powered environments.

Features and targeted applications for the KL520:
• Low-powered with a small physical footprint
• The KL250 can run alongside a main chip as a co-processor; will not need a replacement chip
• For smart door lock applications, KL520 includes two ARM Cortex M4 CPU, which can serve as the main processor.
• Balances the need of performance, power and cost to bring the best solution for edge applications
• Applicable to various 3D sensor technologies such as structured light, dual-camera and ToF, and Kneron s exclusive 3D sensing technology
• Well-suited for applications including smart locks, security cameras, drones, smart home appliances and robotics

Category	Description	Link
KL520 AI SoC	The KL520 with its dual ARM Cortex M4 CPU, 0.345TOPS can operate as a host or companion AI co-processor enabling edge AI on devices like smart locks, security cameras, drones, smart home appliances, and robotics. It is compatible with various 3D sensor technologies such as Structured Light, dual-cameras, ToF camera, and Kneron’s own exclusive 3D sensing technology, Support CNN.
KL720 AI SoC	The KL720 with ARM Cortex M4 CPU and Candence DSP, 0.9 TOPS per Watt, giving it the highest performance to power ratio in the market. Engineered for real-world use cases where this ratio matters, we are serious when it comes to enabling edge AI everywhere and for everyone, Support CNN, RNN & LSTM.
KNEO Stem	KNEO Stems allow AI developers to build applications based on mainstream AI models and frameworks. Simply plug the KNEO Stem into a laptop and you can start developing your own AI apps and uploading them onto the KNEO AI App Store.