World News – AU – BrainChips Akida plans to fly into space via NASA as Renesas Electronics America signs first IP deal

Tech company BrainChip (ASX: BRN) has announced a double combination of new developments related to its Akida neuromorphic processor, including a new order from US space agency NASA and the signing of an IP license agreement with the Japanese semiconductor giant Renesas Electronics

BrainChip confirmed that NASA had ordered their Akida Early Access Evaluation Kit for use at the NASA / Ames Research Center (ARC) in Moffett Field, California

The BrainChip early access program is only available to a select group of customers, evaluation boards, and dedicated support

Under the terms of the contract, NASA made an undisclosed payment to offset the company’s expenses in supporting partner needs and intends to use the Early Access program to test Akida’s ability to use it in space

The kit allows NASA technicians to evaluate BrainChip’s Akida technology and its use in programs with a neuromorphic processor that can meet the needs of space travel. Because Akida is a “full neural processor,” it is not an external CPU, not a Memory or Deep Learning Accelerator (DLA) required to function

Because of its streamlined design, which focuses on reducing components and improving energy efficiency, the Akida processor could potentially make the grade and be used in space flights

BrainChip is currently developing a so-called “groundbreaking neuromorphic processor” that brings artificial intelligence (AI) to the edge in a way that goes beyond the capabilities of other products ????

The company claims its Akida chip is powerful, small, extremely low-power, and enables a wide range of edge functions, including on-chip training, learning, and inference

Akida is designed to provide a complete and fast AI Edge network with extremely low power consumption for vision, audio, olfactory and smart transducer applications

BrainChip is confident that the Akida neuromorphic processor will be well suited for space and aerospace applications because of its “incremental learning” capability This feature allows new classifiers to be added to the network without having to completely retrain the network

The benefit in aerospace and aerospace applications can be significant as real-time local incremental learning allows for continuous operation as new discoveries or circumstances arise

“We’re both excited and proud that NASA has procured Akida as part of our Early Access program,” said Louis DiNardo, CEO of BrainChip

???? The realization that neuromorphic computing can play an important role in space applications is an important milestone for our industry To be able to benefit humanity he said

In addition to joining NASA’s Early Access program, BrainChip also signed an IP license agreement with Renesas Electronics America, a subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corp., in what Mr. DiNardo called “market validation of our technology” ???

The unconditional IP agreement means that BrainChip will deliver its Akida 10 neural network IP through a one-time, rights-based, worldwide IP design license that allows Renesas to use Akida in its system-on-chip products

BrainChip has been hired to provide implementation support services – for an agreed fee to cover costs – to help Renesasâ ???? Acceptance and commercialization of the Akida licensed product in the first year of the license agreement

In addition, the agreement contains provisions for the payment of ongoing license fees based on the volume of units sold, starting with a certain agreed volume threshold and the net sale price of the customer’s [Renesas] ???? s] productsâ ????

BrainChip has also agreed to provide software maintenance services for which an additional fee will be charged if Renesas continues to use these services after the first two years of the contract

“This is an exciting and significant milestone in the company’s first IP licensing agreement,” said Mr. DiNardo

Licensing Akida IP also gives us the ability to generate recurring revenue for the life of our customer’s SoC product.We are able to help additional customers incorporate Akida technology into their products, that benefit from low power consumption and real-time performance, and expand the capabilities to provide AI solutions for IoT devices on the edge without the need for cloud connectivity ?? he added

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