Introduction

In the wave of artificial intelligence, the importance of visual perception technology is increasingly highlighted. The latest research by the Tsinghua team, "Tianmou Core," as the world's first brain-like complementary vision chip, its release undoubtedly brings a revolutionary breakthrough to the field of intelligent perception. This article will delve into the core features, design philosophy, and profound impact on future intelligent systems, especially in the fields of autonomous driving and embodied intelligence.

"Tianmou Core": A New Paradigm for Brain-like Visual Perception

The design concept of "Tianmou Core" is derived from the human visual system, simulating the working principle of the human eye to achieve two complementary and complete visual perception pathways. This innovation not only breaks through the limitations of traditional vision perception chips in terms of power consumption and bandwidth, but also shows excellent performance in handling complex environments and extreme scenarios.

Technical Highlights

  • Ultra-low bandwidth and power consumption: Compared with traditional high-speed imaging technology, the bandwidth of "Tianmou Core" is reduced by 90%, and the power consumption is also greatly reduced.
  • High speed, high precision, high dynamic range: A single chip can achieve high-speed acquisition of 10,000 frames per second, 10-bit high precision, and a high dynamic range of 130dB.
  • Complementary dual pathways: Drawing on the basic principles of the human visual system, a cognition-oriented pathway (COP) and an action-oriented pathway (AOP) are formed, which are responsible for precise cognition and rapid response, respectively.

Design Architecture

"Tianmou Core" uses 90-nanometer back-illuminated CMOS technology, including a hybrid pixel array and a parallel heterogeneous readout architecture. The cone and rod-inspired pixel design, along with the spatiotemporal continuous pixel architecture, together achieve efficient acquisition and processing of visual information.

"Tianmou Core" Performance Testing and Application Prospects

"Tianmou Core" has shown excellent performance in quantum efficiency, dynamic range, response speed, and other aspects. In actual testing, whether facing high-speed moving objects or extreme lighting conditions, "Tianmou Core" can maintain fast and robust response.

Performance in the Open World

The application test of "Tianmou Core" in the open world scenario shows that its complementary sensing paradigm can provide a wide range of design possibilities and provide an excellent data source for perception algorithms. In applications such as autonomous driving, "Tianmou Core" can efficiently adapt to extreme lighting environments and provide domain-invariant multi-level perception capabilities.

Conclusion

The advent of "Tianmou Core" not only marks a significant breakthrough in brain-like computing and brain-like perception in our country, but also provides strong technical support for the development of the intelligent revolution. With the development of artificial general intelligence, "Tianmou Core" is expected to play a key role in important applications such as autonomous driving and embodied intelligence, opening a new era of intelligent vision.

Reference Materials: - Nature Cover Article- Nature Magazine Related Report