The pan-European artificial intelligence project DAIS (Distributed Artificial Intelligent Systems), in which TST participates, and which began in May 2021, has begun with the analysis of requirements and objectives, and has launched the so-called supply chains, a concept defined in the project by the combination of technologies to achieve each of the objectives and generate the expected impact.
DAIS offers faster, safer and more energy efficient data processing solutions through the development of components, systems and architectures with artificial intelligence for devices at the edge of the network (edge device). To achieve the ambitious objectives of the project, two types of supply chains have been defined: supply chains to enable hardware and software technologies, and application supply chains, where the results obtained in the development of enabling technologies will be validated through demonstrators..
The role of TST is twofold, on the one hand, it collaborates in the development of enabling technologies related to hardware components at the edge of the network. On the other hand, TST leads the application supply chain aimed at developing demonstrators for the digital industry of the future.
With the revolutionary change brought about by the Internet of Things (IoT) and the rapid increase in data from connected devices becoming more ubiquitous, vulnerabilities in these types of systems have come to the fore. How can we collect and process the ever-increasing amount of data while addressing challenges around privacy, speed, and energy efficiency? And how can Europe take the lead in a field that is already dominated by America and Asia? These are some of the questions that the DAIS project seeks to answer.
Participation in the DAIS project will allow TST to strengthen its international position thanks to the development of technologies for the creation of IoT devices with integrated artificial intelligence, providing safer and more efficient solutions and infrastructures.
DAIS is a three-year pan-European initiative led by RISE, a Swedish research institute, with a total budget of 33 million euros and a consortium of 47 partners from 11 different countries. The project will strengthen Europe’s position by placing European values at the heart of Electronic Components and Systems (ECS), which will shape a new era through self-organization, privacy by design and energy efficiency, and develop the necessary technology to protect these values.
New edge computing architecture
The new distributed computing paradigm known as edge computing provides a new architectural model that brings resources closer to the user, helps maintain data confidentiality and privacy, and provides low latency, energy efficiency, and scalability, compared to cloud services, while reducing network bandwidth. At the same time, there is a growing need to use Artificial Intelligence at the edge of the network. The union of these innovations and the subsequent migration of AI functions from the cloud to the edge of the network will serve as the next step in the evolution, to which the DAIS project will be a major contributor. In the future “Edge Intelligence” scenario, advanced AI and machine learning algorithms will be optimized to run on edge devices to be able to handle video, voice, and unstructured data generated by cameras, microphones, and other sensors, without uploading data in the cloud and without response waiting times.
A strong European industry
DAIS has the ambitious goal of developing smart and secure edge solutions for industrial applications, involving the entire supply chain. Specifically, DAIS aims to:
- Provide intelligent local data processing and communication at the Edge to enable real-time and safety-critical industrial applications.
- Develop secure and reliable hardware/software solutions for your industrial application that can withstand cyber attacks and harsh network conditions.
- Provide AI techniques at the edge that enable adaptation to various computing capabilities, as opposed to the stability and consistency traditionally provided by existing cloud computing power.
- Distribuir y dividir las complejas operaciones de IA entre la nube y el edge, con el edge realizando un procesamiento de datos inteligente que reduzca el ancho de banda de los datos que se transmiten a la nube; y desarrollar la infraestructura necesaria (incluido el hardware y el software) para obtener este tipo de soluciones en Europa.
- Distribute and divide complex AI operations between the cloud and the edge, with the edge performing intelligent data processing that reduces the bandwidth of data being transmitted to the cloud; and develop the necessary infrastructure (including hardware and software) to obtain these types of solutions in Europe.
- Develop solutions for IoT, that is, wireless devices with computing and power limitations, for heterogeneous and hostile environments.
- Provide reusable solutions in industrial domains.
- Use a methodological approach with the participation of the entire supply chain, from academia to system developers and integrators, component suppliers, application and service developers and providers, as well as end users.
Ali Balador, DAIS coordinator
Ali Balador, project coordinator and researcher at RISE, sees DAIS as a big step forward in the area of artificial intelligence and edge computing.
“While artificial intelligence is gaining momentum, cloud computing has a key role to play in this evolution. However, this approach is challenging because cloud-based AI systems run their AI algorithms centrally. While the cloud-based approach works to continuously transfer information between devices and data centers, it inherently comes with latency and security issues when it comes to integrating a robust AI system. DAIS aims to provide state-of-the-art computing architecture, including hardware and software for industrial applications. With the support of European industry, leading European research organisations, the European Union through the ECSEL Joint Undertaking and participating national funding agencies such as Vinnova in Sweden, it is possible to bring together the main European and international players for the benefit of the European economy and society.
RISE, research institute of Sweden
RISE is a Swedish research institute. Through its international collaboration programs with industry, universities and the public sector, RISE helps ensure the competitiveness of the Swedish economy and the sustainability of society. It has 2,800 employees who participate and support all kinds of innovation processes. RISE is an independent state-owned research institute that offers unique expertise and more than 100 testbeds and demonstration environments for future-ready technologies, products, and services.
TST, provider of IoT solutions
TST is an IoT product and solution design engineering with manufacturing and industrialization capacity. Headquartered in the Cantabria Science and Technology Park (PCTCAN), TST has developed and manufactured IoT devices for multiple sectors and applications, and has numerous international deployments. TST’s technical team has extensive experience in electronic design, embedded software development, and wireless communications technologies. This, together with the availability of advanced measurement instrumentation and its own manufacturing capacity, allows TST to offer customers innovative projects that shorten time to market, optimize production processes and obtain high reliability at a minimum cost.
