This blog post was originally published at Qualcomm’s website. It is reprinted here with the permission of Qualcomm.
The convergence of physical and digital technologies is transforming industries and driving the need for more advanced platforms to power the next generation of industrial IoT (IIoT) devices. The result is a dramatic leap in demand for platforms that can withstand extreme environments, deliver high-performance computing and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, and foster safety and reliability.
Meeting this need is a new family of industrial-grade platforms from Qualcomm Technologies: the Qualcomm IQ9 Series, Qualcomm IQ8 Series and Qualcomm IQ6 Series platforms. They are purpose-built to meet the specific and demanding needs of the heaviest workload industrial applications across enterprises, proving the temperature ratings, safety features, edge AI and powerful compute capabilities needed for the toughest situations.
The Qualcomm IQ Series family is critical to shaping the future of smart industries in a new era of industrial intelligence — also known as Industry 4.0 — that is driven by the evolution of IIoT and AI. These trends open new possibilities and empower businesses to address specific industry challenges with innovative solutions.
Thanks to these platforms, sensing, analyzing and overall intelligence capabilities are now within reach for enterprises and developers looking to build solutions for the most demanding problems, driving businesses toward a future of unparalleled efficiency and productivity. Read on to learn more about the advancements they bring to the industrial space.
Industrial-grade design for uncompromising performance
Industrial environments are unforgiving, presenting significant hurdles for electronic components. The Qualcomm IQ Series is specifically designed to overcome these challenges, ensuring optimal compute and AI performance even in the most rigorous conditions. They are engineered to operate within an extended thermal junction (Tj) temperature range, including parts ranging from -40°C to 125°C. The chip designs feature a high ball pitch, which translates to increased spacing between the adjacent solder balls on the package of a chip, which further contributes to its ability to withstand the demands of industrial environments such as increased vibrations. Additionally, the chips feature built-in safety components such as error correction code (ECC) memory, alongside a dedicated safety island or a real-time subsystem to maintain uptime and reliability of end devices. Finally, support for a rich array of peripherals including Wi-Fi, PCIe, ethernet and USB means this series can be used across industrial devices and environments such as:
- Industrial automation robots inside of a manufacturing facility,
- Edge AI gateways fixed to power substations in the desert,
- Inspection drones assessing wildfire damage,
- Industrial controllers and handheld devices assisting factory workers,
- And much more.
Safety features for a superior design and longevity
The Qualcomm IQ Series platforms are also equipped with superior safety and reliability features, including error correction and detection mechanisms, as well as redundancy features to minimize the impact of component failures. Rounded out by a high ball pitch designed to deliver increased build stability, which is especially important across industrial devices that are prone to physical agitation and vibration, these platforms are built with reliability and safety in mind. This helps industrial IoT devices maintain uptime and productivity during mission-critical operations.
Real-time insights, automation and predictive maintenance capabilities are no longer a distant dream. These platforms are designed to provide industrial IoT devices with the ability to monitor equipment health with precision. They can detect anomalies and potential failures before they cause downtime, enabling you to take action and avoid disruptions. This can lead to improved asset utilization and operational efficiency.
Powerful compute and on-device AI capabilities
These platforms deliver varying combinations of efficient and powerful computing.
The Qualcomm IQ9 Series is the most premium offering in this family, delivering:
- A Kryo Gen 6 CPU with all 8 high-performance cores,
- A Qualcomm Adreno 663 GPU,
- Up to 100 TOPS of AI performance that can run Llama2 13 billion parameter models, generating about 12 tokens per second.
The Qualcomm IQ8 Series also drives powerful and efficient computing through:
- A Kryo Gen 6 CPU that pairs 4 high-performance cores with 4 efficiency cores,
- A Qualcomm Adreno 623 GPU,
- Up to 40 TOPS of AI performance that can also run Llama2 13 billion parameter models, generating about 9 tokens per second.
Rounding out the series is the Qualcomm IQ6 Series, which uses:
- A Kryo Gen 4 CPU to deliver exceptional efficiency through 2 high-performance cores with 6 efficiency cores,
- A Qualcomm Adreno 612 GPU,
- On-device AI workload processing and support for a rich array of input and output interfaces that include Wi-Fi, PCIe, ethernet and USB.
Collectively, this platform family offers powerful and efficient computing, on-device AI processing, and support for six to 16 concurrent cameras that together meet the needs of the most demanding and rigorous industrial applications with power benefits, real-time decision-making, predictive maintenance, advanced data analytics, vision intelligence and precise robotics control at the network edge.
All chipsets have planned support for more than 10 years, adding confidence that the devices built on these platforms will be supported over the long term.
Developer-friendly design
The Qualcomm IQ Series platforms are engineered with developers in mind. With support for a range of operating systems, from Linux to Ubuntu, developers have the flexibility to select the system that best aligns with their objectives and create next-generation industrial devices that unlock a world of untapped potential with exceptional computing power, edge AI capabilities, power efficiency and security features at their fingertips.
Qualcomm Linux software supports IoT development with LTS Kernel, multi-SoCs support and focused upstream compliance. This helps add to the ease of use, support longevity and cloud scalability potential of these chipsets.
Furthermore, as development kits for these platforms become commercially available in early 2025, they will work with the Qualcomm AI Hub, empowering developers to optimize the creation, deployment and scaling of edge AI devices. The Qualcomm AI Hub offers a repository of validated AI models compatible with Qualcomm Technologies’ platforms and development kits, streamlining the development, deployment and scaling process for edge AI-powered devices.
Powering the age of industrial intelligence
The era of industrial intelligence is here, driven by the rapid evolution of connected technologies and AI throughout industries. The Qualcomm IQ Series platforms are not just components; they are the catalyst driving connectivity and intelligence while revolutionizing the way enterprises and developers unlock the full potential of industrial IoT by driving new levels of efficiency, productivity and innovation.
With these platforms at the heart of industrial systems, industries are moving into a future where the possibilities are endless, and the limits of what can be achieved continue to expand. Welcome to the era of industrial intelligence — we can’t wait to see how the transformative power of the Qualcomm IQ Series platforms unlocks a new world of possibilities.
Damanjit Singh
Staff Manager, Business Development, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
