Onboard intelligence for low-power, high-resolution cameras

Our technologies make cameras smarter—enabling features like person detection, object classification, analytics, and more—performing complex data analysis in real time, delivering breathtaking imagery, and preserving vital system resources such as power and network bandwidth.  We specialize in the development of deployable, scalable designs for intelligent cameras, offering a proven path to mass production.

Our CVflow® chip architecture is based on a deep understanding of core computer vision algorithms. Unlike general-purpose CPUs and GPUs, CVflow includes a dedicated vision processing engine programmed with a high-level algorithm description, allowing our architecture to scale performance to trillions of operations per second with extremely low power consumption.

With CVflow, customers can efficiently map their own CNN networks trained with industry-standard tools (e.g., Caffe, TensorFlow, PyTorch) to run on Ambarella processors.

How CVflow works

Trained Neural Network

Our customers provide their own trained neural networks in popular formats including Caffe, TensorFlow, and ONNX.

Sparsification and Quantization

Using our CNN Generation tool, we analyze the trained neural network and optimize it for our hardware via sparsification and quantization.

Conversion to High-Level Language

The optimized network moves to our compiler tool, where we generate a program – written in a high-level language rather than generic low-level operators – for execution on our CVflow hardware.

Compiled DAG Binary

The compiled program, known as a DAG executable binary, is sent to our CVflow hardware for execution. The result is validated and the network is retrained, as needed, with our customers’ support.

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Stereovision

Stereo processing transforms the world from a flat 2D plane into a full 3D environment. This not only provides a richer, denser representation of the target scene, but also allows the detection of generic obstacles that the system hasn’t been trained to recognize, making navigation safer and more effective for warehouse robots, autonomous vehicles, and more.

Low power

Our technology is designed to be deployed in embedded platforms on the edge (e.g., battery-powered cameras), where power consumption is a critical concern. Ambarella processors consistently outperform competitive solutions in power efficiency—sometimes by 5x or more—while delivering equal or superior results.

Compression efficiency

Cameras are quickly becoming ubiquitous—with multiple devices in our vehicles, homes, workplaces, and intersections—generating massive amounts of data.

Reduce bandwidth & storage costs

Our compression technologies dramatically reduce data transmission size, slashing storage costs and bandwidth usage.

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Image quality

One of the hallmarks of Ambarella processors is our image processing pipeline. Encompassing everything from HDR to EIS to dewarping, our state-of-the-art ISP ensures that every frame of every video is exquisite, improving safety and enhancing the viewing experience.

Functional Safety

As an AI silicon company offering SoCs for applications such as ADAS and autonomous driving, Ambarella has implemented an array of internal processes and procedures to ensure that our functional safety-certified products comply with ISO 26262.

These strict processes and procedures touch every aspect of the work we do—from technical documentation to software engineering to VLSI—and have become an inextricable part of our culture, from top to bottom.

Computer vision

Present day Computer vision

Our vision processors were designed using more than twenty-five years of pioneering research in environmental perception. The result? Cameras with an extraordinary degree of onboard intelligence, including the ability to classify objects, interpret gestures, recognize faces, track people of interest, identify obstacles, and more.

1998 Computer vision

Our vision processors were designed using more than twenty-five years of pioneering research in environmental perception. The result? Cameras with an extraordinary degree of onboard intelligence, including the ability to classify objects, interpret gestures, recognize faces, track people of interest, identify obstacles, and more.

Autonomy

From drones to robots, from taxis to long-haul semi trucks, Ambarella’s vision processors were designed to revolutionize the way we work and travel. Our hardware platforms deliver the flexibility required to implement all levels of automation, including partial, conditional, high, and full autonomy.

2013 footage of an L4 autonomous driving demonstration in Parma, Italy

SDK & Reference Designs

Our company was built on transforming core video processing technologies into mass-market products. We offer tools, reference platforms, and a team of dedicated engineers with a proven track record for developing best-selling consumer and professional devices.