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Large-Scale Neuromorphic Spiking Array Processors: A Quest to Mimic the Brain

Thakur, Chetan Singh and Molin, Jamal Lottier and Cauwenberghs, Gert and Indiveri, Giacomo and Kumar, Kundan and Qiao, Ning and Schemmel, Johannes and Wang, Runchun and Chicca, Elisabetta and Hasler, Jennifer Olson and Seo, Jae-sun and Yu, Shimeng and Cao, Yu and van Schaik, Andre and Etienne-Cummings, Ralph (2019) Large-Scale Neuromorphic Spiking Array Processors: A Quest to Mimic the Brain. In: FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE, 12 .

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Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2018.00891

Abstract

Neuromorphic engineering (NE) encompasses a diverse range of approaches to information processing that are inspired by neurobiological systems, and this feature distinguishes neuromorphic systems from conventional computing systems. The brain has evolved over billions of years to solve difficult engineering problems by using efficient, parallel, low-power computation. The goal of NE is to design systems capable of brain-like computation. Numerous large-scale neuromorphic projects have emerged recently. This interdisciplinary field was listed among the top 10 technology breakthroughs of 2014 by the MIT Technology Review and among the top 10 emerging technologies of 2015 by the World Economic Forum. NE has two-way goals: one, a scientific goal to understand the computational properties of biological neural systems by using models implemented in integrated circuits (ICs); second, an engineering goal to exploit the known properties of biological systems to design and implement efficient devices for engineering applications. Building hardware neural emulators can be extremely useful for simulating large-scale neural models to explain how intelligent behavior arises in the brain. The principal advantages of neuromorphic emulators are that they are highly energy efficient, parallel and distributed, and require a small silicon area. Thus, compared to conventional CPUs, these neuromorphic emulators are beneficial in many engineering applications such as for the porting of deep learning algorithms for various recognitions tasks. In this review article, we describe some of the most significant neuromorphic spiking emulators, compare the different architectures and approaches used by them, illustrate their advantages and drawbacks, and highlight the capabilities that each can deliver to neural modelers. This article focuses on the discussion of large-scale emulators and is a continuation of a previous review of various neural and synapse circuits (Indiveri et al., 2011). We also explore applications where these emulators have been used and discuss some of their promising future applications.

Item Type: Journal Article
Publication: FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
Publisher: FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
Additional Information: The Copyright of this article belongs to Frontiers Media S.A.
Keywords: neuromorphic engineering; large-scale systems; brain-inspired computing; analog sub-threshold; spiking neural emulator
Department/Centre: Division of Electrical Sciences > Electronic Systems Engineering (Formerly Centre for Electronic Design & Technology)
Date Deposited: 01 Jan 2019 17:32
Last Modified: 01 Aug 2022 04:55
URI: https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/61285

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