Illustration of Microsoft's WinUI Framework

Integrating AI and Machine Learning into WinUI Applications

By Stephanie Van Ness and Harry Chattaway

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have moved from emerging technologies to foundational components in modern software systems across industries, particularly environments where high-stakes decisions must be made under pressure in real time, often with incomplete information. AI helps fill in the gaps by detecting patterns, surfacing anomalies and offering data-driven insights.

For product owners, the key challenge is integrating AI in a way that’s reliable, transparent and compatible with real-world deployment constraints. 

And that’s a significant challenge. 

Integrating AI into a product like a medical device or industrial automation system isn’t as simple as plugging in a model. Especially in regulated or safety-critical domains, it requires a thoughtful approach to system architecture, UI design performance constraints and regulatory compliance. 

Fortunately, there’s help. The combination of Microsoft’s WinUI (Windows UI Library) framework and the C# programming language enables intelligent, real-time software backed by modern interfaces.

About Microsoft's WinUI Framework

WinUI, Microsoft’s UI framework for building native Windows applications, is designed with both performance and flexibility in mind. It empowers developers to create responsive, fluent and future-ready interfaces by providing a modern, high-performance UI layer that integrates natively with Microsoft’s AI ecosystem, which includes Azure Machine Learning, ONNX Runtime and Windows ML. This integration makes it possible to embed intelligent capabilities directly into the user interface.

The Role of C# in WinUI Development

C# is the primary language used to develop WinUI applications, and for good reason. It integrates deeply with the .NET ecosystem, making it well-suited to enterprise-grade applications that must connect to services, manage complex logic and ensure long-term maintainability. Key strengths of using C# with WinUI include:

  • Strong type safety and tooling support, reducing the likelihood of runtime errors
  • Mature async/await patterns for responsive UIs in data-intensive applications
  • Seamless integration with REST APIs, cloud services, and ML libraries
  • Rich support for data binding and MVVM architecture, enabling clean separation of UI and logic

This makes C# a natural fit for applications that not only need sophisticated UIs, but also complex data workflows, real-time updates and AI integration.

Real-Time Intelligence at the Edge

One of the most impactful use cases for AI-powered WinUI/C# is real-time edge intelligence. In an industrial context, for example, a WinUI-based application can ingest live sensor data such as vibration or temperature and run it through a locally deployed ONNX model using Windows ML. The model’s output is immediately reflected in the UI, alerting operators to potential failures before they occur. This enables faster, localized decision-making while maintaining the option to retrain and update models via the cloud using Azure ML.

A similar approach applies in healthcare. Devices monitoring patient vitals can run ML models locally to detect anomalies as they happen. The UI, built with WinUI, can display alerts immediately and escalate cases as needed, while additional analysis is sent to the cloud for storage or review. This combination of edge processing and cloud integration supports both responsiveness and scalability.

ICS Excels at WinUI Development

Leveraging expertise in WinUI, C# and AI/ML, our team specializes in applications tailored for regulated and high-reliability environments. Our high-performance, maintainable solutions combine modern UI capabilities with clean, efficient code. 

We’re also skilled at enabling seamless communication between medical devices regardless of their underlying platforms, using advanced messaging systems such as gRPC and MQTT. WinUI and C# integrate perfectly with these protocols to ensure smooth data exchange between devices running on different systems – for instance, allowing a WinUI/C# application on Windows to effortlessly interact with C++, Python or any other language on hardware running Linux. 

Our expertise extends to integrating real-time device control, where a WinUI application can trigger hardware commands, receive live feedback and display updates directly in the GUI. So whether your device is a robot, implantable medical device or other type of medical or industrial technology, we have the skills to manage its operations effectively. (Speaking of medical devices, we’re also well-versed in navigating the FDA approval process, ensuring your product gets to market as quickly and efficiently as possible.)

If you’re shaping the next generation of your product and exploring how AI can play a role, WinUI offers a solid, future-ready foundation to build on. From FDA-compliant medical applications to real-time industrial control systems, ICS has the expertise to help turn your product vision into reality. Get in touch.