Building Edge AI takes more than software — it takes hardware and software engineered to work as one. BrainChip’s Akida development ecosystem pairs neuromorphic silicon and reference hardware platforms — boards, boxes, FPGAs, and M.2 cards — with the MetaTF software environment that trains, converts, and deploys models directly onto that hardware — a complete, integrated path, from chip to application, for building Edge AI solutions.
Hardware Development Tools
At the core of the Akida ecosystem is the hardware that brings neuromorphic AI to life. Our latest processor, Akida 1500, is built for sub-watt, always-on inferencing with on-chip learning — compact enough for the most power- and space-constrained designs. It’s now available in a new M.2 form factor, making it simple to add neuromorphic processing to existing single-board computers and embedded systems, alongside the boards, boxes, and FPGA platforms engineers already use.
AKD1500 M.2 Card B+M Key
The AKD1500 M.2 Card B+M Key is BrainChip’s next-generation edge AI accelerator in the M.2 2230 B+M Key form factor. Powered by the Akida AKD1500 neuromorphic co-processor, it integrates seamlessly with Raspberry Pi 5 and compatible host systems for ultra-low-power AI inference at the edge.
AKD1000 PCIe Development Board
The AKD1000 PCIe Development Board is a compact, high-performance platform designed to accelerate Edge AI development with BrainChip’s Akida technology. Featuring the AKD1000 neuromorphic processor in a standard PCIe form factor, it enables seamless integration into existing systems for efficient prototyping, testing, and deployment of AI applications at the edge.
AKD1000 M.2 Development Card
Akida M.2 AKD1000 Card accelerates CNN-based neural network models using BrainChip’s ultra energy-efficient, and purely digital, event-based processing architecture. Akida AKD1000 features built in capabilities to execute these networks without a host CPU, enabling stand-alone operation for always on ultra low power. BrainChip’s unique MetaTF software flow enables developers to compile and optimize their chosen models for the Akida M.2 Card.
The Akida M.2 AKD1000 can be paired with existing Single-Board Computers to enable AI applications. It’s low power consumption supports the creation of very compact, ultra-low-power, portable and intelligent devices for wearables, remote sensors, always on wake-up devices, Healthcare, Consumer, Smart Home and AIoT applications. The Akida Runtime software manages network processing to fully utilize available resources and can automatically partition execution into multiple passes.
AKIDA 1 Edge AI Box
BrainChip and VVDN collaborated to create the innovative and powerful Akida Edge AI Box. This collaboration leverages BrainChip’s AKD1000 AI Accelerator and NXP i.MX 8M Plus SoC to produce a compact system with the capability to execute diverse AI applications at the edge. Applications such as video analytics, face recognition, and object detection are among the many use cases supported by this solution. This design is a turnkey end product that can be customized by our partner VVDN for volume edge AI use cases.
AKIDA FPGA Development Platform
The Akida FPGA Platform is a hardware product for loading Akida IP configurations and neural models to evaluate the model performance and execution on BrainChip Akida IP. It provides system and chip designers with a pre-configured environment for demonstration, emulation, validation, and system integration. The platform showcases BrainChip’s Akida AI neural processing acceleration, which is scalable, configurable, and programmable to support CNN and Temporal Event-Based Neural Network models (TENNs).
MetaTF Software
Development Tools
MetaTF is a powerful developer environment designed to support edge AI innovation. MetaTF is the bridge between developers and BrainChip’s Akida technology, lowering the barrier to entry and providing clear, accessible pathways to start building with Akida.
Designed for engineers building Edge AI applications, the Akida Development Environment (MetaTF) is a complete machine learning framework for creating, training, testing, and deploying neural networks on the Akida Neuromorphic Processor Platform. MetaTF includes a processor IP simulator for model execution, as well as support for Akida hardware like the AKD1000 reference SoC and Akida 2 FPGA platform.
Inspired by the Keras API, MetaTF provides a high-level Python API for neural networks. This API facilitates early evaluation, design, final tuning, and productization of neural network models.
MetaTF is comprised of four Python packages which leverage the TensorFlow framework and are installed from the PyPI repository via pip command.
The Four MetaTF Packages Contain
Model Zoo (akida-models)
to directly load quantized models or to easily instantiate and train Akida compatible models
Quantization Tool (Quantize-models)
for quantization of models using low-bitwidth weights and outputs
Conversion Tool (cnn2snn)
to convert models to a binary format for model execution on an Akida platform
Interface to the Akida Neuromorphic Processor (akida)
including a runtime, a Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) and a software backend.
It allows the simulation of the Akida Neuromorphic Processor and use of the Akida hardware Development Platforms.
Cloud Tools
AKIDA Cloud
Akida Cloud is a service that provides a pre-configured environment for system and chip designers to evaluate the efficiency and performance of neural models on remotely hosted BrainChip Akida IP. It’s a platform for demonstrating, emulating, and validating Akida IP easily and efficiently.
