Edge intelligence with Quectel Pi: a new approach to IoT development

IoT product development has accelerated dramatically over the last year, but so have customer expectations. Today’s IoT market is increasingly shaped by devices that combine connectivity, local processing, multimedia capabilities, and intelligent decision-making at the edge. These advances mean IoT companies are under growing pressure to deliver more capable and intelligent devices in ever shorter timeframes. From robotics and industrial automation to smart security systems and interactive terminals, customers now expect devices that are responsive, scalable, and adaptable across a wide range of deployment environments.

One of the most significant trends driving IoT development now is the shift toward edge intelligence. Rather than relying solely on cloud-based processing, modern IoT products are expected to analyze data locally. This enables faster response times, reduced latency, improved reliability, and lower bandwidth costs. This is especially important in robotics, where real-time decision-making is critical. It's also important in industrial control systems, multimedia terminals, and intelligent security solutions that must operate continuously and autonomously.

Yet IoT development teams face persistent challenges. Hardware complexity, long prototyping cycles, and the need for specialized engineering expertise can slow innovation and increase costs. Many organizations want to focus on their core product ideas and software differentiation, rather than overcoming low-level hardware hurdles. As a result, development platforms that are easy to deploy, flexible, and compatible with open-source technologies are becoming an essential part of modern IoT product development strategies. 

This is where solutions like Quectel’s smart development platforms play a vital role. By combining powerful processing, rich connectivity, and open ecosystems into a single, accessible board, developers can rapidly prototype, test, and iterate new ideas. This is particularly helpful in advanced applications such as robotics and intelligent edge devices.

The Quectel Pi H1: an ideal enabler of IoT development

This Masterclass on IoT development delves into Quectel Pi H1, a smart ecosystem single-board computer launched by Quectel. Based on the Qualcomm QCS6490 octa-core 64-bit processor (12 TOPS) and Qualcomm Adreno™ 643L GPU, it features 8GB LPDDR4X memory. It also features a USB Type-C power interface, supports external eMMC and SSD storage, and provides dual display via DP, LCM, or Micro HDMI. Furthermore, it is Wi-Fi 2.4 and 5 GHz compliant with IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac and features Bluetooth 5.0.

With its powerful performance and rich multimedia capabilities, the Quectel Pi H1 meets demanding requirements for high-speed processing and advanced functionality across industrial and consumer applications. Join this session on how the Quectel Pi H1's extensive interfaces make it ideal for use in product development scenarios across M2M and AIoT including edge computing, robotics, industrial control, multimedia terminals, digital signage, intelligent security, and industrial PDAs.