209 research outputs found
Homogeneous Spiking Neuromorphic System for Real-World Pattern Recognition
A neuromorphic chip that combines CMOS analog spiking neurons and memristive
synapses offers a promising solution to brain-inspired computing, as it can
provide massive neural network parallelism and density. Previous hybrid analog
CMOS-memristor approaches required extensive CMOS circuitry for training, and
thus eliminated most of the density advantages gained by the adoption of
memristor synapses. Further, they used different waveforms for pre and
post-synaptic spikes that added undesirable circuit overhead. Here we describe
a hardware architecture that can feature a large number of memristor synapses
to learn real-world patterns. We present a versatile CMOS neuron that combines
integrate-and-fire behavior, drives passive memristors and implements
competitive learning in a compact circuit module, and enables in-situ
plasticity in the memristor synapses. We demonstrate handwritten-digits
recognition using the proposed architecture using transistor-level circuit
simulations. As the described neuromorphic architecture is homogeneous, it
realizes a fundamental building block for large-scale energy-efficient
brain-inspired silicon chips that could lead to next-generation cognitive
computing.Comment: This is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in IEEE
Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems, vol 5, no.
2, June 201
A CMOS Spiking Neuron for Dense Memristor-Synapse Connectivity for Brain-Inspired Computing
Neuromorphic systems that densely integrate CMOS spiking neurons and
nano-scale memristor synapses open a new avenue of brain-inspired computing.
Existing silicon neurons have molded neural biophysical dynamics but are
incompatible with memristor synapses, or used extra training circuitry thus
eliminating much of the density advantages gained by using memristors, or were
energy inefficient. Here we describe a novel CMOS spiking leaky
integrate-and-fire neuron circuit. Building on a reconfigurable architecture
with a single opamp, the described neuron accommodates a large number of
memristor synapses, and enables online spike timing dependent plasticity (STDP)
learning with optimized power consumption. Simulation results of an 180nm CMOS
design showed 97% power efficiency metric when realizing STDP learning in
10,000 memristor synapses with a nominal 1M{\Omega} memristance, and only
13{\mu}A current consumption when integrating input spikes. Therefore, the
described CMOS neuron contributes a generalized building block for large-scale
brain-inspired neuromorphic systems.Comment: This is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in
International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN) 201
A CMOS Spiking Neuron for Brain-Inspired Neural Networks with Resistive Synapses and In-Situ Learning
Nanoscale resistive memories are expected to fuel dense integration of
electronic synapses for large-scale neuromorphic system. To realize such a
brain-inspired computing chip, a compact CMOS spiking neuron that performs
in-situ learning and computing while driving a large number of resistive
synapses is desired. This work presents a novel leaky integrate-and-fire neuron
design which implements the dual-mode operation of current integration and
synaptic drive, with a single opamp and enables in-situ learning with crossbar
resistive synapses. The proposed design was implemented in a 0.18 m CMOS
technology. Measurements show neuron's ability to drive a thousand resistive
synapses, and demonstrate an in-situ associative learning. The neuron circuit
occupies a small area of 0.01 mm and has an energy-efficiency of 9.3
pJspikesynapse
On Spike-Timing-Dependent-Plasticity, Memristive Devices, and Building a Self-Learning Visual Cortex
In this paper we present a very exciting overlap between emergent nanotechnology and neuroscience, which has been discovered by neuromorphic engineers. Specifically, we are linking one type of memristor nanotechnology devices to the biological synaptic update rule known as spike-time-dependent-plasticity (STDP) found in real biological synapses. Understanding this link allows neuromorphic engineers to develop circuit architectures that use this type of memristors to artificially emulate parts of the visual cortex. We focus on the type of memristors referred to as voltage or flux driven memristors and focus our discussions on a behavioral macro-model for such devices. The implementations result in fully asynchronous architectures with neurons sending their action potentials not only forward but also backward. One critical aspect is to use neurons that generate spikes of specific shapes. We will see how by changing the shapes of the neuron action potential spikes we can tune and manipulate the STDP learning rules for both excitatory and inhibitory synapses. We will see how neurons and memristors can be interconnected to achieve large scale spiking learning systems, that follow a type of multiplicative STDP learning rule. We will briefly extend the architectures to use three-terminal transistors with similar memristive behavior. We will illustrate how a V1 visual cortex layer can assembled and how it is capable of learning to extract orientations from visual data coming from a real artificial CMOS spiking retina observing real life scenes. Finally, we will discuss limitations of currently available memristors. The results presented are based on behavioral simulations and do not take into account non-idealities of devices and interconnects. The aim of this paper is to present, in a tutorial manner, an initial framework for the possible development of fully asynchronous STDP learning neuromorphic architectures exploiting two or three-terminal memristive type devices. All files used for the simulations are made available through the journal web site1
Memory and information processing in neuromorphic systems
A striking difference between brain-inspired neuromorphic processors and
current von Neumann processors architectures is the way in which memory and
processing is organized. As Information and Communication Technologies continue
to address the need for increased computational power through the increase of
cores within a digital processor, neuromorphic engineers and scientists can
complement this need by building processor architectures where memory is
distributed with the processing. In this paper we present a survey of
brain-inspired processor architectures that support models of cortical networks
and deep neural networks. These architectures range from serial clocked
implementations of multi-neuron systems to massively parallel asynchronous ones
and from purely digital systems to mixed analog/digital systems which implement
more biological-like models of neurons and synapses together with a suite of
adaptation and learning mechanisms analogous to the ones found in biological
nervous systems. We describe the advantages of the different approaches being
pursued and present the challenges that need to be addressed for building
artificial neural processing systems that can display the richness of behaviors
seen in biological systems.Comment: Submitted to Proceedings of IEEE, review of recently proposed
neuromorphic computing platforms and system
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