223 research outputs found
On-chip Few-shot Learning with Surrogate Gradient Descent on a Neuromorphic Processor
Recent work suggests that synaptic plasticity dynamics in biological models
of neurons and neuromorphic hardware are compatible with gradient-based
learning (Neftci et al., 2019). Gradient-based learning requires iterating
several times over a dataset, which is both time-consuming and constrains the
training samples to be independently and identically distributed. This is
incompatible with learning systems that do not have boundaries between training
and inference, such as in neuromorphic hardware. One approach to overcome these
constraints is transfer learning, where a portion of the network is pre-trained
and mapped into hardware and the remaining portion is trained online. Transfer
learning has the advantage that pre-training can be accelerated offline if the
task domain is known, and few samples of each class are sufficient for learning
the target task at reasonable accuracies. Here, we demonstrate on-line
surrogate gradient few-shot learning on Intel's Loihi neuromorphic research
processor using features pre-trained with spike-based gradient
backpropagation-through-time. Our experimental results show that the Loihi chip
can learn gestures online using a small number of shots and achieve results
that are comparable to the models simulated on a conventional processor
Spiking Neural Networks for Inference and Learning: A Memristor-based Design Perspective
On metrics of density and power efficiency, neuromorphic technologies have
the potential to surpass mainstream computing technologies in tasks where
real-time functionality, adaptability, and autonomy are essential. While
algorithmic advances in neuromorphic computing are proceeding successfully, the
potential of memristors to improve neuromorphic computing have not yet born
fruit, primarily because they are often used as a drop-in replacement to
conventional memory. However, interdisciplinary approaches anchored in machine
learning theory suggest that multifactor plasticity rules matching neural and
synaptic dynamics to the device capabilities can take better advantage of
memristor dynamics and its stochasticity. Furthermore, such plasticity rules
generally show much higher performance than that of classical Spike Time
Dependent Plasticity (STDP) rules. This chapter reviews the recent development
in learning with spiking neural network models and their possible
implementation with memristor-based hardware
Neuroinspired unsupervised learning and pruning with subquantum CBRAM arrays.
Resistive RAM crossbar arrays offer an attractive solution to minimize off-chip data transfer and parallelize on-chip computations for neural networks. Here, we report a hardware/software co-design approach based on low energy subquantum conductive bridging RAM (CBRAM®) devices and a network pruning technique to reduce network level energy consumption. First, we demonstrate low energy subquantum CBRAM devices exhibiting gradual switching characteristics important for implementing weight updates in hardware during unsupervised learning. Then we develop a network pruning algorithm that can be employed during training, different from previous network pruning approaches applied for inference only. Using a 512 kbit subquantum CBRAM array, we experimentally demonstrate high recognition accuracy on the MNIST dataset for digital implementation of unsupervised learning. Our hardware/software co-design approach can pave the way towards resistive memory based neuro-inspired systems that can autonomously learn and process information in power-limited settings
MorphIC: A 65-nm 738k-Synapse/mm Quad-Core Binary-Weight Digital Neuromorphic Processor with Stochastic Spike-Driven Online Learning
Recent trends in the field of neural network accelerators investigate weight
quantization as a means to increase the resource- and power-efficiency of
hardware devices. As full on-chip weight storage is necessary to avoid the high
energy cost of off-chip memory accesses, memory reduction requirements for
weight storage pushed toward the use of binary weights, which were demonstrated
to have a limited accuracy reduction on many applications when
quantization-aware training techniques are used. In parallel, spiking neural
network (SNN) architectures are explored to further reduce power when
processing sparse event-based data streams, while on-chip spike-based online
learning appears as a key feature for applications constrained in power and
resources during the training phase. However, designing power- and
area-efficient spiking neural networks still requires the development of
specific techniques in order to leverage on-chip online learning on binary
weights without compromising the synapse density. In this work, we demonstrate
MorphIC, a quad-core binary-weight digital neuromorphic processor embedding a
stochastic version of the spike-driven synaptic plasticity (S-SDSP) learning
rule and a hierarchical routing fabric for large-scale chip interconnection.
The MorphIC SNN processor embeds a total of 2k leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF)
neurons and more than two million plastic synapses for an active silicon area
of 2.86mm in 65nm CMOS, achieving a high density of 738k synapses/mm.
MorphIC demonstrates an order-of-magnitude improvement in the area-accuracy
tradeoff on the MNIST classification task compared to previously-proposed SNNs,
while having no penalty in the energy-accuracy tradeoff.Comment: This document is the paper as accepted for publication in the IEEE
Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems journal (2019), the
fully-edited paper is available at
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/876400
A review of learning in biologically plausible spiking neural networks
Artificial neural networks have been used as a powerful processing tool in various areas such as pattern recognition, control, robotics, and bioinformatics. Their wide applicability has encouraged researchers to improve artificial neural networks by investigating the biological brain. Neurological research has significantly progressed in recent years and continues to reveal new characteristics of biological neurons. New technologies can now capture temporal changes in the internal activity of the brain in more detail and help clarify the relationship between brain activity and the perception of a given stimulus. This new knowledge has led to a new type of artificial neural network, the Spiking Neural Network (SNN), that draws more faithfully on biological properties to provide higher processing abilities. A review of recent developments in learning of spiking neurons is presented in this paper. First the biological background of SNN learning algorithms is reviewed. The important elements of a learning algorithm such as the neuron model, synaptic plasticity, information encoding and SNN topologies are then presented. Then, a critical review of the state-of-the-art learning algorithms for SNNs using single and multiple spikes is presented. Additionally, deep spiking neural networks are reviewed, and challenges and opportunities in the SNN field are discussed
An optimised deep spiking neural network architecture without gradients
We present an end-to-end trainable modular event-driven neural architecture
that uses local synaptic and threshold adaptation rules to perform
transformations between arbitrary spatio-temporal spike patterns. The
architecture represents a highly abstracted model of existing Spiking Neural
Network (SNN) architectures. The proposed Optimized Deep Event-driven Spiking
neural network Architecture (ODESA) can simultaneously learn hierarchical
spatio-temporal features at multiple arbitrary time scales. ODESA performs
online learning without the use of error back-propagation or the calculation of
gradients. Through the use of simple local adaptive selection thresholds at
each node, the network rapidly learns to appropriately allocate its neuronal
resources at each layer for any given problem without using a real-valued error
measure. These adaptive selection thresholds are the central feature of ODESA,
ensuring network stability and remarkable robustness to noise as well as to the
selection of initial system parameters. Network activations are inherently
sparse due to a hard Winner-Take-All (WTA) constraint at each layer. We
evaluate the architecture on existing spatio-temporal datasets, including the
spike-encoded IRIS and TIDIGITS datasets, as well as a novel set of tasks based
on International Morse Code that we created. These tests demonstrate the
hierarchical spatio-temporal learning capabilities of ODESA. Through these
tests, we demonstrate ODESA can optimally solve practical and highly
challenging hierarchical spatio-temporal learning tasks with the minimum
possible number of computing nodes.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure
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