Multi-LSTM Acceleration and CNN Fault Tolerance

This thesis addresses the following two problems related to the field of Machine Learning: the acceleration of multiple Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) models on FPGAs and the fault tolerance of compressed Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). LSTMs represent an effective solution to capture long-term dependencies in sequential data, like sentences in Natural Language Processing applications, video frames in Scene Labeling tasks or temporal series in Time Series Forecasting. In order to further boost their efficacy, especially in presence of long sequences, multiple LSTM models are utilized in a Hierarchical and Stacked fashion. However, because of their memory-bounded nature, efficient mapping of multiple LSTMs on a computing device becomes even more challenging. The first part of this thesis addresses the problem of mapping multiple LSTM models to a FPGA device by introducing a framework that modifies their memory requirements according to the target architecture. For the similar accuracy loss, the proposed framework maps multiple LSTMs with a performance improvement of 3x to 5x over state-of-the-art approaches. In the second part of this thesis, we investigate the fault tolerance of CNNs, another effective deep learning architecture. CNNs represent a dominating solution in image classification tasks, but suffer from a high performance cost, due to their computational structure. In fact, due to their large parameter space, fetching their data from main memory typically becomes a performance bottleneck. In order to tackle the problem, various techniques for their parameters compression have been developed, such as weight pruning, weight clustering and weight quantization. However, reducing the memory footprint of an application can lead to its data becoming more sensitive to faults. For this thesis work, we have conducted an analysis to verify the conditions for applying OddECC, a mechanism that supports variable strength and size ECCs for different memory regions. Our experiments reveal that compressed CNNs, which have their memory footprint reduced up to 86.3x by utilizing the aforementioned compression schemes, exhibit accuracy drops up to 13.56% in presence of random single bit faults

Applied Harmonic Analysis and Data Processing

Massive data sets have their own architecture. Each data source has an inherent structure, which we should attempt to detect in order to utilize it for applications, such as denoising, clustering, anomaly detection, knowledge extraction, or classification. Harmonic analysis revolves around creating new structures for decomposition, rearrangement and reconstruction of operators and functions—in other words inventing and exploring new architectures for information and inference. Two previous very successful workshops on applied harmonic analysis and sparse approximation have taken place in 2012 and in 2015. This workshop was the an evolution and continuation of these workshops and intended to bring together world leading experts in applied harmonic analysis, data analysis, optimization, statistics, and machine learning to report on recent developments, and to foster new developments and collaborations

Recent Developments in Cointegration

It is well known that inference on the cointegrating relations in a vector autoregression (CVAR) is difficult in the presence of a near unit root. The test for a given cointegration vector can have rejection probabilities under the null, which vary from the nominal size to more than 90%. This paper formulates a CVAR model allowing for multiple near unit roots and analyses the asymptotic properties of the Gaussian maximum likelihood estimator. Then two critical value adjustments suggested by McCloskey (2017) for the test on the cointegrating relations are implemented for the model with a single near unit root, and it is found by simulation that they eliminate the serious size distortions, with a reasonable power for moderate values of the near unit root parameter. The findings are illustrated with an analysis of a number of different bivariate DGPs

Channel Detection and Decoding With Deep Learning

In this thesis, we investigate the designs of pragmatic data detectors and channel decoders with the assistance of deep learning. We focus on three emerging and fundamental research problems, including the designs of message passing algorithms for data detection in faster-than-Nyquist (FTN) signalling, soft-decision decoding algorithms for high-density parity-check codes and user identification for massive machine-type communications (mMTC). These wireless communication research problems are addressed by the employment of deep learning and an outline of the main contributions are given below. In the first part, we study a deep learning-assisted sum-product detection algorithm for FTN signalling. The proposed data detection algorithm works on a modified factor graph which concatenates a neural network function node to the variable nodes of the conventional FTN factor graph to compensate any detrimental effects that degrade the detection performance. By investigating the maximum-likelihood bit-error rate performance of a finite length coded FTN system, we show that the error performance of the proposed algorithm approaches the maximum a posterior performance, which might not be approachable by employing the sum-product algorithm on conventional FTN factor graph. After investigating the deep learning-assisted message passing algorithm for data detection, we move to the design of an efficient channel decoder. Specifically, we propose a node-classified redundant decoding algorithm based on the received sequence’s channel reliability for Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codes. Two preprocessing steps are proposed prior to decoding, to mitigate the unreliable information propagation and to improve the decoding performance. On top of the preprocessing, we propose a list decoding algorithm to augment the decoder’s performance. Moreover, we show that the node-classified redundant decoding algorithm can be transformed into a neural network framework, where multiplicative tuneable weights are attached to the decoding messages to optimise the decoding performance. We show that the node-classified redundant decoding algorithm provides a performance gain compared to the random redundant decoding algorithm. Additional decoding performance gain can be obtained by both the list decoding method and the neural network “learned” node-classified redundant decoding algorithm. Finally, we consider one of the practical services provided by the fifth-generation (5G) wireless communication networks, mMTC. Two separate system models for mMTC are studied. The first model assumes that low-resolution digital-to-analog converters are equipped by the devices in mMTC. The second model assumes that the devices' activities are correlated. In the first system model, two rounds of signal recoveries are performed. A neural network is employed to identify a suspicious device which is most likely to be falsely alarmed during the first round of signal recovery. The suspicious device is enforced to be inactive in the second round of signal recovery. The proposed scheme can effectively combat the interference caused by the suspicious device and thus improve the user identification performance. In the second system model, two deep learning-assisted algorithms are proposed to exploit the user activity correlation to facilitate channel estimation and user identification. We propose a deep learning modified orthogonal approximate message passing algorithm to exploit the correlation structure among devices. In addition, we propose a neural network framework that is dedicated for the user identification. More specifically, the neural network aims to minimise the missed detection probability under a pre-determined false alarm probability. The proposed algorithms substantially reduce the mean squared error between the estimate and unknown sequence, and largely improve the trade-off between the missed detection probability and the false alarm probability compared to the conventional orthogonal approximate message passing algorithm. All the aforementioned three parts of research works demonstrate that deep learning is a powerful technology in the physical layer designs of wireless communications

Multivariate and repeated measures (MRM): A new toolbox for dependent and multimodal group-level neuroimaging data.

Repeated measurements and multimodal data are common in neuroimaging research. Despite this, conventional approaches to group level analysis ignore these repeated measurements in favour of multiple between-subject models using contrasts of interest. This approach has a number of drawbacks as certain designs and comparisons of interest are either not possible or complex to implement. Unfortunately, even when attempting to analyse group level data within a repeated-measures framework, the methods implemented in popular software packages make potentially unrealistic assumptions about the covariance structure across the brain. In this paper, we describe how this issue can be addressed in a simple and efficient manner using the multivariate form of the familiar general linear model (GLM), as implemented in a new MATLAB toolbox. This multivariate framework is discussed, paying particular attention to methods of inference by permutation. Comparisons with existing approaches and software packages for dependent group-level neuroimaging data are made. We also demonstrate how this method is easily adapted for dependency at the group level when multiple modalities of imaging are collected from the same individuals. Follow-up of these multimodal models using linear discriminant functions (LDA) is also discussed, with applications to future studies wishing to integrate multiple scanning techniques into investigating populations of interest.This work was supported by a MRC Centenary Early Career Award (MR/J500410/1). The example datasets were collected using support from an MRC DTP studentship and an MRC grant (G0900593).This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.02.05