The deployment of AI onboard IoT devices as AIoT will unlock new potential for IoT applications and will see AI deployed into new contexts. But AIoT is a meeting between two different worlds with different rhythms. New software support platform functions and capabilities will be required to support the lifecycle of AIoT.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) are two of today’s most impactful technology developments. Inevitably, an increasing range of both enterprise and consumer applications and solutions leverage both technologies, so that they are enabled by both AI and IoT. A growing subset of these applications and solutions incorporate AI capabilities directly onboard an IoT device, as AIoT, unlocking benefits ranging from faster response times to more efficient use of connectivity bandwidth.
A new kind of platform will be needed to support AIoT. Any platform intended to support AIoT connections must effectively combine capabilities from both AI and IoT platform domains. This can be challenging, since AI is characterised by rapid iterations and evolution of software, whilst IoT is characterised by often fragmented estates of resource-constrained devices that can be expected to remain operational for multiple years.
In a new report, 'A new kind of software platform for AIoT?', Transforma Insights identifies the software platform functions that will be required to support AIoT, including the need to compress AI models for deployment on AIoT devices, the management of AIoT in the field, and contextual considerations and future requirements. The full range of aspects considered is highlighted below.
Jim Morrish, a Founding Partner at Transforma Insights comments: “Many of the required functions already exist, but not yet optimised for AIoT. Supporting software platforms for IoT are relatively well-developed and supporting software platforms for AI are developing quickly. Accordingly, many of the capabilities required to support AIoT devices can already be identified in one, or other, of these domains. However, existing IoT platform capabilities have generally not yet been optimised to support distributed AI software, and AI software platforms generally do not take into account the full range of constraints of IoT environments.”
Morrish continued: “New capabilities will, however, be required. For example, support for the optimisation of AIoT models to take into account the cost and performance parameters of available connectivity and power drain in the case of battery powered (or energy harvesting) devices. Additionally, any condition and performance reporting from an AIoT device will be constrained by these same factors.”
The report is published today, and is available to Transforma Insights subscribers here. Further analysis of the AIoT opportunity including ultra-granular forecasts for AIoT can be found on Transforma Insights’ website. Forthcoming reports from Transforma Insights will identify software platform vendors who have propositions that are relevant for AIoT, and the extent to which each meets the demands of future AIoT environments.
Transforma Insights is a leading research firm focused on the world of Digital Transformation (DX). Led by seasoned technology industry analysts we provide advice, recommendations and decision support tools for organisations seeking to understand how new technologies will change the markets in which they operate.
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