Ever since the invention of microcontrollers and microprocessors in the early 1970s, the compute aspect of embedded systems has evolved dramatically. In the last 50 years, not only has compute capability been constantly improving – as predicted by Gordon Moore – but it also become more affordable over time. These capabilities have evolved to cater to differing applications from cloud compute to true endpoint edge compute. At the so-called ‘edge,’ the transformation of almost every ‘thing’ around us to ‘Internet of Things,’ or fondly referred to as ‘IoT,’ has been happening right in front of our eyes at a rampant pace. Along with the compute revolution, the software world has been evolving dramatically as well. Staggering advancements in machine learning technology that started in the cloud have been proliferating to the edge since quite recently.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.edgeimpulse.com/blog/the-perfect-storm