Notice
March 17, 2021 Winners' reports have been released.
February 2, 2021 The final ranking is reflected on the leaderboard. (The winners of the idea award indicate the final ranking as "4th")
January 29, 2021 The online awards ceremony will be held on February 13th. At the award ceremony, the winners will also give a presentation. If you would like to attend, please apply from here.
December 1, 2020 The provisional processing time has been posted.

November 26, 2020 Acceptance of processing time for provisional ranking has started. Please submit from the following form by October 31.Provisional performance application form
November 6, 2020 "Awards" has been updated.
November 5, 2020 The provisional processing time has been posted.
October 16, 2020 The video and material of the FPGA online seminar held in August has been released.Online seminar video
October 8, 2020 Acceptance of processing time for provisional ranking has started. Please submit from the following form by October 31.Provisional performance application form
July 22, 2020 Application for participation in FPGA online seminar (August 8) will start. At the seminar, we will hold the awards and presentations of the winners of the 2nd contest. If you would like to participate, please apply below.
Application for seminar
July 17, 2020 We are now accepting applications for FPGA boards. If you would like to apply, please apply using the "Board offer document examination application form" button in the center of the screen.


Purpose

With the progress of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, social implementation such as image recognition using AI technology, automatic driving, and natural language processing is rapidly progressing. Especially in the edge computing field, since it is necessary to realize AI technology with higher efficiency, startups mainly in the United States and China and major vendors are accelerating their entry into AI hardware, and even in Japan Not only that, there is an urgent need to develop human resources and industries for hardware to accelerate AI processing such as LSI and FPGA.
Against this background, we will carry out this contest, in addition to the conventional AI technology development centered on software, we are aiming to develop human resources and startups with AI hardware in mind, as well as industry development utilizing these technologies. In this contest, we will develop AI hardware using FPGA and set the hardware system development that considers edge computing including hardware and software (network model and system optimization) as an issue.

AI Edge Contest Official Website

The 1st AI Edge Contest (Algorithm Contest (1))
The 2nd AI Edge Contest (Implementation Contest (1))
The 3rd AI Edge Contest (Algorithm Contest (2))

*Please refer to the winners' solutions (source code and report) in the 2nd AI edge contest (implementation contest (1)) using FPGA.

Contest Outline

Subject
(Algorithm development) Create an algorithm to segment at the pixel level the region corresponding to an object from a vehicle front camera image.
(Algorithm implementation) Design hardware accelerators and implement algorithm on  the target FPGA board.
Provided data
(Train/Test) Image of the vehicle front camera
(Train) Split-labeled region corresponding to an object at the pixel level
(Train) Image meta information (route/time of day, etc.)
Identifying target
Car, Pedestrian, Signal, Lane
Platform
Avnet Ultra96 FPGA board
Evaluation
 - The evaluation is the processing speed of the target FPGA board.
 - However, in order to be the target of evaluation, the goodness of the segmentation result (=prediction result for the test data) must meet the standard or more.
 - IoU is used as a measure of the goodness of the segmentation result, and IoU = 0.6 or more is the requirement standard. (The idea award is not limited to this)
 - The IoU requirement standard values ​​are subject to change.
Awards
 Processing speed Award
1st Prize: The 1st Prize Trophy / 400,000 yen + Google Cloud Platform Coupon (100,000 yen)
2nd Prize: The 2nd Prize Trophy / 200,000 yen + Google Cloud Platform Coupon (50,000 yen)
3rd Prize: The 3rd Prize Trophy / 100,000 yen + Google Cloud Platform Coupon (50,000 yen)
Idea Award
Idea Award Trophy / 100,000 yen（Up to 3 team）

Subject (Algorithm Development)
Color coding is applied on a pixel-by-pixel basis for areas containing objects to be detected in images taken vehicle front camera. The following four categories are used for objects to be utilized in prediction:
・Car
・Pedestrian
・Signal
・Lane

* Python source code to convert from PNG-format color-coded image files to JSON-format application files can be downloaded from the data page.



Subject (Algorithm Implementation)

Implement developed algorithm into Avnet Ultra96 (Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC ZAU3EG SBVA484) FPGA board.

Data


TrainTest
Route
Tokyo Route 1 (Shibuya-Haneda)）,Tokyo Route 2 (Kagurazaka), Saitama Route (Bijogi)
Time of day
3 time categories of "morning," "day" and "night"; only "day" is used for Tokyo Route 2, and only "morning" is used for the Saitama Route
Resolution
1936 x 1216
Photography interval
10 seconds for Tokyo Routes 1 and 2, and 30 seconds for the Saitama Route (varies in some cases)
CategoryCar, Pedestrian, Signal, Lane, Bus, Truck, SVehicle, Motorbike, Bicycle, Signs, Sky, Building, Natural, Wall, Ground, Sidewalk, RoadShoulder, Obstacle, others, own
Car, Pedestrian, Signal, Lane
No. of Images
2,243
649


Route

Flow of entry / registration for the contest
1. Sign up for SIGNATE (Please register through the member registration button on the top right of the page if you are not currently a member.).
2. Download the data from the data tab (Please agree the terms of entry that will be displayed when downloading.).
3. Prepare the Ultra96-V2 board (if you do not have one, you can purchase it by yourself or apply through the application form.).
   *We plan to provide FPGA board to a maximum of 80 applicants based on the review of application among the people who apply through application form for the board offer document review. Please apply from the button below if you would like to get the FPGA board offer to use for this contest.

4. Algorithm development, FPGA implementation and optimization.
5. During the contest, submit the segmentation result from the "Submit" button on the upper right of this page and check the IoU score on the leaderboard.
*The IoU score until the last day of the contest (public score) and the IoU score after the contest (private score) are the same.
*Please refer to the IoU function that can be downloaded on the data page
6. Submit the final result set by the end of the contest.
*For details, refer to "submission_details.pdf" that can be downloaded from the data page.
*Upload on the Internet such as Dropbox, Gigafile, etc., and inform us of the information required for downloading to the following form.





Decision method of winners
The secretariat will confirm the submitted final result set, and from those who meet all of the following requirements, they will decide the prize winner based on the processing performance time (ms) for the processing speed award and the content of the report for the idea award. An online interview may be set when necessary, centering on the idea prize, and a presentation (assuming 5 minutes presentation + 10 minutes Q&A) will be held such as implementation ideas.

Processing speed AwardIdea AwardRequirements
◎◎You have submitted the final result set by the end of the contest, and you have all the necessary submissions.
◎◎Agree to grant an open source license to your submission.
◎◎Operate on the Ultra96 board used in the examination (confirm the operation on multiple boards for individual differences)
◎◎The processing performance measurement application operates and the processing performance results are displayed on the file and/or console.
◎◎
The output of the segmentation result (JSON file) can be confirmed, and there is no big difference between the IoU value calculated from the result and the IoU value displayed on the leaderboard.
◎-The segmentation result submitted during the contest period displayed on the leaderboard exceeds the standard IoU = 0.6.
-◎The IoU of the segmentation result submitted during the contest period displayed on the leaderboard is far below the standard IoU = 0.6 (less than half), and it is not difficult to apply in practice.
-◎Implementation report has been submitted.

*The standard IoU is displayed on the leaderboard as a benchmark.

IoU calculation procedure

1.For evaluated images, the average overlap (pixel level) for ground truth and prediction areas will be calculated.
2.The average for step 1's results will be calculated for all test images.




About processing speed

- The ranking on this site shows only the ranking based on the calculation result of IoU of the segmentation result, and the ranking of the processing speed cannot be reflected.
- Therefore, we will set two deadlines for the end of October and the end of November, collect the information of those who voluntarily submit the average processing time, and post a temporary processing time ranking (reference) on the page.
- For submission, please inform the following email address of IoU of segmentation result, average processing time per sheet.

  Address: ai-edge-comp2020@dmprof.com
  Subject: Temporary processing time (team name *User name in case of individual)
  Body: IoU of segmentation result: 0.xx
            Average processing time per image: xx.xx[ms]

About implementation report

It is not necessary to cover everything, but if you appeal to these points, the points for judging the idea award will be high.
・Outline of implementation and demo operation
    - System configuration/architecture outline of implemented hardware in FPGA
    - Operating frequency, performance, etc.

・Content of ingenuity and appeal points
    - Ingenuity on algorithm (network model used, learning method such as assembly, improvement of data set, etc.)
    - Architectural innovations (optimization of speed and area)
    - Electrical consideration (measurement comparison with wattmeter etc.)
    - Others (cost considerations, devices for shortening development period, etc.)

・The report itself
    - Easy to understand each issue, clarification of ingenuity, etc.

Comprehensive Ranking

・This competition is not subject to SIGNATE's comprehensive ranking (score and medal).

Use of System
・ One account is required for each participant. It is not acceptable to use multiple accounts by one participant and/or to share one account with multiple participants.
・ If you would like to participate in a team, please read here to create a team. (Deadline to create a team: October 31. Up to 5 people including the representative.)
・ The maximum number of submission per day is five.

Handling of Information
・ Public disclosure of algorithms, ideas or other materials created to participate in this competition shall not be restricted, only if it is clearly stated that those are created to participate in this competition at the time of publication.
・ However, at the public disclosure, please specify it (including links) in the forum of this competition so that all participants can view it.

Use of Data
・ Use of the data other than provided data, and learned data shall not be restricted if the method allows verification of reproducibility for free. For example, the dataset with non-profit purpose, such as Waymo Open Dataset, can be used.
・ However, use of data provided by past AI Edge Contests is prohibited.
・ Modification of training data (including manual labeling and label rewriting) is allowed.
・ For API, the data that can be republished as an open source can be used.
・ Inference is performed on image-by-image basis. When tracking an object in images, future information can be used if it is the data for test in the same image (tracking two-way). However use of the data in other images is prohibited.

Host：Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry / New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO)

Co-host：Digital Media Professionals Inc. / SIGNATE Inc.
Sponsor：Google Japan LLC / Digital Media Professionals Inc. / Panasonic Corporation / NEC Corporation / SoftBank Corp.


Steering Committee Members
Shinpei Kato　Tokyo University
Kohei Ozaki　Algotechnica LLC
Atsuto Suyama　SB Drive Corp.
Naoki Suganuma　Kanazawa University
Yutaka Sato　National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
Hiroaki Kitano　Sony Computer Science Laboratories
Hiroaki Matsumoto　Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
Hironobu Tanba　SoftBank Corporation
Hironobu Fujiyoshi　Chubu University
Hiroki Nakahara　Tokyo Institute of Technology
Yoshiki Ninomiya　Nagoya University
Hirokazu Nishio　Mitou Foundation
Masaki Hiraga　Morpho, Inc.

Reference information for obtaining the Ultra96 board to use for this contest

・Subjected board for this contest is Ultra96-V2.
・Regarding method to obtain: There are two ways to obtain it.

1. Provided from this contest
- Although limited in number, the Ultra96 board will be provided after review for the contest participants. For those of you who wish to be provided, please apply through the "application form for board offer document review".
- Provided board includes an AC adapter, power conversion cable, and JTAG board.

2. Obtain from the Avnet website
- You can purchase from here.
- We recommend you to purchase the following related parts along the purchasing of the board.
・JTAG board for Ultra96: It is necessary to connect the UART (serial) consol.
・Avnet recommended AC adapter, power conversion cable
　- Power supply
　- Conversion connector

Regarding the errata of Ultra96 board
The errata from Avnet is published the following site.
http://avnet.me/Ultra96-V2_Errata

The errata particularly has the following known issues:
・Reboot issue of Ultra96-V2
　- Ultra96-V2 When the load of the PL part goes up high, MPSoC reboots.
　- Ultra96-V2 It is posted on the errata reporting page.
This is caused by the reset operation in MPSoC that was triggered by the PowerGood signal's drop when a specific threshold is exceeded while the IC called PMIC is monitoring the Vccint voltage.
- In the current V2 board, a reset is applied when a set threshold is exceeded due to increase in current consumption of the PL section.
- How to distinguish the PL power supply current setting is as follows.


・Also for boards with power limits of 3.5A and 4.0A, The limit of this errata can be relieved to about 5.5A by revising the board and changing the setting of PMIC. A complete set of countermeasure procedures prepared by Avnet can be downloaded from below.

　20191114_Ultra96-V2 PMIC update procedure.zip (This can be obtained by the data tab on this website)
　Infinion that is required for the measures of this issue.
　The sales information of USB005 writing cable is as follows.
　Mouser
　Digikey
　Chip1Stop

・We plan to provide a board that supports 5.5 A of PL power supply current for the board offered from this contest.


Disclosure policy

As a general rule, in accordance with Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the terms of participation, diclosing any contents such as insights and deliverables transmitted through the information or data provided by our company in relation to this competition is not permitted, however, only after the completion of this competition and for non-commercial purposes, it will be possible to disclose the contents within the score of the table below
Model *1
Public
Analysis results *2
Public
Public : Posting to social media sites, blogs and source repositories, and citing to papers
Restricted : Using in a limited range from research, education to seminars, where many unspecified people cannot access
*1 Execution unit source code and learned models
*2 The insights obtained using the information and data provided, or the solutions including scripts and processed data such as summary statistics

Q. There was an obvious mistake in the annotation of the training data. What should I do?

A. It is possible to correct the learning data according to the rules, so please delete or correct it. We check all kinds of data, but it is difficult to detect and correct 100% of mistakes, so we take the current result as "correct" and analyze it. Thank you for your understanding.

Q. Please tell me the definition of the section where the processing performance time should be measured.

A. The processing performance time should be measured as "the time until inference processing is performed on the image data already loaded in the memory and then converted to information equivalent to JSON such as color fill information and PNG image".

▼ Special Contract on this Contest
In accordance with Article III “Prizes and Rights” of the special regulations established for this contest as described below, participants will either choose to make their own submission data, source code and other relevant items be licensed under an Open Source Initiative approved license (www.opensource.org) or not. This license imposes no restrictions on commercial use for licensed models, source code, and any results attained using said source code. Incidentally, the participants who will not choose this license will not be able to prize winner candidate, even though they can participate in the contest. In regard to posting and/or other publication on any social media site, blog or similar by the participant of information relating to any algorithm developed by said participant or any other materials produced for or related to this contest (including materials used for final submissions and/or final evaluations/inspections), no restrictions apply to posting and/or publication as long as the participant clearly explains that the posted/published items relate to this contest, and absolutely posts the positing and/or publication information (including the link URL to the pages) on the contest forum in order to let all the participants know it.


In order to participate in the Competition, you are required to agree to these Terms, in addition to the Terms of Use of SIGNATE.JP Site (hereinafter referred to as the “Terms of Use”). You should participate in the Competition after reading carefully and agreeing to these Terms. If you agree, these Terms, the matters that are added to these Terms as "additional matters", the Terms of Use and other terms and conditions that you have agreed to shall be binding on the relevant parties as integral documents.


Article 1. Definitions

１.For the purpose of these Terms, the following terms shall be defined as follows:

(１)"Site" means the website "SIGNATE (https://signate.jp)” on which the Competitions are posted.
(２)"Competition" means any competition on AI development or data analysis on the Site as held by the Host.
(３)"Host" is the host(s) of the Competitions. The Host may be SIGNATE, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”) or the Company’s client companies, affiliated companies, schools or organizations, etc. (hereinafter referred to as the “Client(s)”).
(４)"Participant(s)" means the member(s) who participate in a Competition.
(５)"Submissions" means, collectively, the analysis and prediction results and reports, etc. as submitted in the Competition.
(６)"Final Submissions" means the Submissions that are specified by a Participant on the prescribed page in the Site by the time of completion of a Competition.
(７)"Winner Candidate" means the Participant who has received a notice from the Company that he/she is nominated as a winner candidate.
(８)"Submissions for Final Judgment" means the analysis and prediction model and learning data, etc. as submitted by a Winner Candidate pursuant to the instructions of the Company.
(９)"Final Judgment" means the acceptance inspection and judgment, including reproducibility verification, by the Company for the Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment of a Winner Candidate.
(１０)"Winner" means the Winner Candidate who is informed by the Company that he/she has won a prize.
２.Unless otherwise defined in these Terms, the terms used in these Terms that are defined in the Terms of Use shall have the same meaning as defined in the Terms of Use.

Article 2. Competition

１.A member who desires to participate in a Competition shall be required to agree to these Terms and to satisfy the conditions for participation as specified in each such Competition. Any person who is not a member shall not participate in any Competition.
２.Participants shall participate in each Competition in the manner as advised by the Company and shall be obligated to comply with the rules as prescribed in each Competition.
３.Participants may submit the Submissions for the assignment of each Competition during the period of such Competition and submit a proposal on the method of solving the problem to the Host by the end of the period of the said Competition.
４.Participants may submit the Final Submissions in the form specified in each Competition by the time specified by the said Competition.
５.The Final Submissions as submitted shall be evaluated by the evaluation method as specified in each Competition and the final rank order shall be determined based on such evaluation.
６.Any Participant may, as a general rule, check the evaluation results of the Participant him/herself and each of the other Participants on the Site for the Submissions that may be evaluated quantitatively.
７.Participants shall be liable or otherwise responsible for their own Submissions, including their legality.
８.Participants shall not submit any Submissions that have no direct relationship to each Competition.
９.Unless otherwise provided for, Participants shall not directly communicate to, consult with, make a request to, solicit or take any other actions with the Host in respect of the matters related to a Competition during the period of the said Competition.
１０.Any Participant who has uncertainty or questions about any Competition shall make sure to contact the Company or its designee through the procedures prescribed by the Company as posted on the Site.
１１.The Company shall not be obligated to pay any remuneration or other consideration other than those prescribed in the following Article for any act of the Participants as prescribed in paragraphs hereof.

Article 3 Reward and Vesting of Rights

１.Unless otherwise provided for, any Participant shall satisfy the following requirements in order to be entitled to receive a reward in any Competition that offers a reward:

(１)To be a winner;
(２)To agree to transfer to the Host and the relevant transferee of rights in such Competition all transferable rights, such as copyrights, rights to obtain patents and know-how, etc. in and to all analysis and prediction results, reports, analysis and prediction model, algorithm, source code and documentations for the model reproducibility, etc., and the Submissions contained in the Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment (including the rights as prescribed in Article 27 and Article 28 of the Copyright Act and the rights to obtain patents; hereinafter referred to as the "Rights");
(３)To agree that any relevant transferee of rights exclusively has the right to use the know-how contained in the Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment for its own business and other purpose without any restriction;
(４)To agree not to exercise moral rights to the Rights against the relevant transferee of rights;
(５)To enter into an agreement for the transfer of the Rights with the relevant eligible transferee of rights, including the agreement to the matter in the preceding three (3) items and other reasonable provisions;
(６)To have the personal identity of such Participant verified by the Company.
(７)Not to breach any provision of these Terms and the Terms of Use.

２.Any Winner Candidate shall, after having received a notice from the Company that he/she is nominated as a winner candidate, submit the Submissions for Final Judgment on or before the designated date and communicate the matters requiring confirmation or response in relation to the Final Submissions and the Submissions for Final Judgment to the Company on or before the designated date, in accordance with the instructions of the Company. The Company shall carry out the final judgment based on such matters requiring confirmation or response. If the Company receives no confirmation or response satisfactory to the Company on or before the designated date, the Company may exclude such Winner Candidate from the subject of the final judgment.
３.If the Company considers that the Final Submissions or Submissions for Final Judgment need to be amended or modified, or there occur any additional matters requiring confirmation, in the course of the final judgment, any Winner Candidate shall take action or make response in relation to the matters that require amendment, etc. or the detailed information on the matters requiring confirmation, on or before the designated date in accordance with the instructions of the Company. If the Company receives no action or response satisfactory to the Company on or before the designated date, the Company may exclude such Winner Candidate from the final judgment.
４.The Company shall determine the Winner through the final judgment and inform the Winner to that effect.

Article 4 Confidentiality

１.Participants shall treat any information, data, or such contents as insights and deliverables transmitted through the service where they receive from the Company in relation to each Competition (hereinafter referred to as the "Company-Provided Information") as confidential information and shall not disclose the same to any third party and use the same for any purpose other than for such Competition and purpose specified by the Company separately; provided, however, that the confidential information shall not include any information that falls under any of the following items:

(１)Information that is known to the public at the time of the disclosure;
(２)Information that is already possessed by the Participant at the time of the disclosure (only in the case where such Participant may demonstrate such fact by reasonable means);
(３)Information that becomes known to the public without the fault of the Participant after the disclosure;
(４)Information that is independently developed by the Participant without reference to any information as disclosed (except for those Submissions of the person eligible for a prize which are evaluated); or
(５)Information that is rightfully disclosed by any third party having a right to do so without the obligations of confidentiality (only in the case where such Participant may demonstrate such fact by reasonable means).

２.Any Participant shall delete or return to the Company the Company-Provided Information immediately after the completion of each Competition.
３.Any Winner shall handle his/her Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment in the same manner as prescribed in paragraph 1 hereof.
４.If there is any separate arrangement in relation to the confidential information in each Competition, the provisions of such arrangement shall prevail over the provisions of these Terms.
５.If any dispute occurs between the Host or other third party and the Company due to the breach by any Participant of the provisions of this Article and such other party makes any claim against the Company, such Participant shall compensate for any damage, loss, expenses (including, but not limited to, attorneys’ fees), lost profits and lost revenues, etc. incurred by the Company.
６.The provisions of this Article shall survive the termination of the relevant Competition or the Participant’s completion of the procedures for withdrawal from the service of the Company, with respect to the Company-Provided Information and the Winner’s Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment for a period of five (5) years thereafter.

Article 5 Prohibited Acts of Participants

１．The Company shall prohibit Participants from engaging in any of the following acts in any Competition:

(１)An act of cracking, cheating, spoofing other misconduct;
(２)An act of directly communicating to, consulting with, making a request to, soliciting or responding to solicitation or other activities to other Participants or the Host (other than the Company) without the involvement of the Company;
(３)Any profitmaking activities using the Competition (including solicitation or scouting activities, and use for a third party in educational business, etc.) without the prior approval of the Company in writing or any other manner specified by the Company;
(４)Transfer, offering as collateral or other disposition of the status as a Participant or the rights or obligations as a Participant (except with the prior written consent of the Company); and
(５)Any other act in breach of the Terms of Use.

２.If the Company deems that a Participant engages in any of the prohibited acts as prescribed in the preceding paragraph, the Company may, without prior notice to the Participant, disqualify the Participant from the Competition in which the Participant participates, temporarily suspend the Participant from using the service of the Company, withdraw the Participant’s membership, claim damages from the Participant or take any other measures deemed necessary by the Company.

Article 6. Change, Discontinuation or Termination of Provision of Services under These Terms

１.The Company may change or temporarily suspend the services provided by the Company under these Terms without prior notice to the members.
２.Upon one (1) month prior notice to the members, the Company may suspend for a long period of time or terminate the services provided by the Company under these Terms.
３.The Company shall not be liable for any results or damage arising from the measures taken by the Company under this Article.

Article 7 Modification of Terms

１.The Company may modify, add or delete any provisions of these Terms from time to time without the approval of the members.

Enforced on April 1, 2018
Last updated on January 18, 2019