5 research outputs found
A Ferroelectric Compute-in-Memory Annealer for Combinatorial Optimization Problems
Computationally hard combinatorial optimization problems (COPs) are
ubiquitous in many applications, including logistical planning, resource
allocation, chip design, drug explorations, and more. Due to their critical
significance and the inability of conventional hardware in efficiently handling
scaled COPs, there is a growing interest in developing computing hardware
tailored specifically for COPs, including digital annealers, dynamical Ising
machines, and quantum/photonic systems. However, significant hurdles still
remain, such as the memory access issue, the system scalability and restricted
applicability to certain types of COPs, and VLSI-incompatibility, respectively.
Here, a ferroelectric field effect transistor (FeFET) based compute-in-memory
(CiM) annealer is proposed. After converting COPs into quadratic unconstrained
binary optimization (QUBO) formulations, a hardware-algorithm co-design is
conducted, yielding an energy-efficient, versatile, and scalable hardware for
COPs. To accelerate the core vector-matrix-vector (VMV) multiplication of QUBO
formulations, a FeFET based CiM array is exploited, which can accelerate the
intended operation in-situ due to its unique three-terminal structure. In
particular, a lossless compression technique is proposed to prune typically
sparse QUBO matrix to reduce hardware cost. Furthermore, a multi-epoch
simulated annealing (MESA) algorithm is proposed to replace conventional
simulated annealing for its faster convergence and better solution quality. The
effectiveness of the proposed techniques is validated through the utilization
of developed chip prototypes for successfully solving graph coloring problem,
indicating great promise of FeFET CiM annealer in solving general COPs.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figure
Heterologous Replicase from Cucumoviruses can Replicate Viral RNAs, but is Defective in Transcribing Subgenomic RNA4A or Facilitating Viral Movement
Interspecific exchange of RNA1 or RNA2 between the cucumoviruses cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and tomato aspermy virus (TAV) was reported to be non-viable in plants previously. Here we investigated viability of the reassortants between CMV and TAV in Nicotiana benthamiana plants by Agrobacterium-mediated viral inoculation. The reassortants were composed of CMV RNA1 and TAV RNA2 plus RNA3 replicated in the inoculated leaves, while they were defective in viral systemic movement at the early stage of infection. Interestingly, the reassortant containing TAV RNA1 and CMV RNA2 and RNA3 infected plants systemically, but produced RNA4A (the RNA2 subgenome) at an undetectable level. The defect in production of RNA4A was due to the 1a protein encoded by TAV RNA1, and partially restored by replacing the C-terminus (helicase domain) in TAV 1a with that of CMV 1a. Collectively, exchange of the replicase components between CMV and TAV was acceptable for viral replication, but was defective in either directing transcription of subgenomic RNA4A or facilitating viral long-distance movement. Our finding may shed some light on evolution of subgenomic RNA4A in the family Bromoviridae