The Multi-Spike Tempotron (MST) is a powerful single spiking neuron model that can solve complex supervised classification tasks. While powerful, it is also internally complex, computationally expensive to evaluate, and not suitable for neuromorphic hardware. Here we aim to understand whether it is possible to simplify the MST model, while retaining its ability to learn and to process information. To this end, we introduce a family of Generalised Neuron Models (GNM) which are a special case of the Spike Response Model and much simpler and cheaper to simulate than the MST. We find that over a wide range of parameters the GNM can learn at least as well as the MST. We identify the temporal autocorrelation of the membrane potential as the single most important ingredient of the GNM which enables it to classify multiple spatio-temporal patterns. We also interpret the GNM as a chemical system, thus conceptually bridging computation by neural networks with molecular information processing. We conclude the paper by proposing alternative training approaches for the GNM including error trace learning and error backpropagation.
Spike-based neuromorphic hardware promises to reduce the energy consumption of image classification and other deep learning applications, particularly on mobile phones or other edge devices. However, direct training of deep spiking neural networks is difficult, and previous methods for converting trained artificial neural networks to spiking neurons were inefficient because the neurons had to emit too many spikes. We show that a substantially more efficient conversion arises when one optimizes the spiking neuron model for that purpose, so that it not only matters for information transmission h…
While classical neural networks take a position of a leading method in the machine learning community, spiking neuromorphic systems bring attention and large projects in neuroscience. Spiking neural networks were shown to be able to substitute networks of classical neurons in applied tasks. This work explores recent hardware designs focusing on perspective applications (like convolutional neural networks) for both neuron types from the energy efficiency side to analyse whether there is a possibility for spiking neuromorphic hardware to grow up for a wider use. Our comparison shows that spiking…
The spiking neural network (SNN) using leaky-integrated-and-fire (LIF) neurons has been commonly used in automatic speech recognition (ASR) tasks. However, the LIF neuron is still relatively simple compared to that in the biological brain. Further research on more types of neurons with different scales of neuronal dynamics is necessary. Here we introduce four types of neuronal dynamics to post-process the sequential patterns generated from the spiking transformer to get the complex dynamic neuron improved spiking transformer neural network (DyTr-SNN). We found that the DyTr-SNN could handle th…
Biological neurons communicate with a sparing exchange of pulses - spikes. It is an open question how real spiking neurons produce the kind of powerful neural computation that is possible with deep artificial neural networks, using only so very few spikes to communicate. Building on recent insights in neuroscience, we present an Adapting Spiking Neural Network (ASNN) based on adaptive spiking neurons. These spiking neurons efficiently encode information in spike-trains using a form of Asynchronous Pulsed Sigma-Delta coding while homeostatically optimizing their firing rate. In the proposed par…
We propose a fully autonomous, thermodynamically consistent set of chemical reactions that implements a spiking neuron. This chemical neuron is able to learn input patterns in a Hebbian fashion. The system is scalable to arbitrarily many input channels. We demonstrate its performance in learning frequency biases in the input as well as correlations between different input channels. Efficient computation of time-correlations requires a highly non-linear activation function. The resource requirements of a non-linear activation function are discussed. In addition to the thermodynamically consiste…
Vector Symbolic Architectures (VSAs) are a powerful framework for representing compositional reasoning. They lend themselves to neural-network implementations, allowing us to create neural networks that can perform cognitive functions, like spatial reasoning, arithmetic, symbol binding, and logic. But the vectors involved can be quite large, hence the alternative label Hyperdimensional (HD) computing. Advances in neuromorphic hardware hold the promise of reducing the running time and energy footprint of neural networks by orders of magnitude. In this paper, we extend some pioneering work to ru…
The efficiency of the human brain in performing classification tasks has attracted considerable research interest in brain-inspired neuromorphic computing. Hardware implementations of a neuromorphic system aims to mimic the computations in the brain through interconnection of neurons and synaptic weights. A leaky-integrate-fire (LIF) spiking model is widely used to emulate the dynamics of neuronal action potentials. In this work, we propose a spin based LIF spiking neuron using the magneto-electric (ME) switching of ferro-magnets. The voltage across the ME oxide exhibits a typical leaky-integr…
Spiking neural networks (SNNs) transmit information through discrete spikes, which performs well in processing spatial-temporal information. Due to the non-differentiable characteristic, there still exist difficulties in designing well-performed SNNs. Recently, SNNs trained with backpropagation have shown superior performance due to the proposal of the gradient approximation. However, the performance on complex tasks is still far away from the deep neural networks. Taking inspiration from the autapse in the brain which connects the spiking neurons with a self-feedback connection, we apply an a…
Compliant robots can be more versatile than traditional robots, but their control is more complex. The dynamics of compliant bodies can however be turned into an advantage using the physical reservoir computing frame-work. By feeding sensor signals to the reservoir and extracting motor signals from the reservoir, closed loop robot control is possible. Here, we present a novel framework for implementing central pattern generators with spiking neural networks to obtain closed loop robot control. Using the FORCE learning paradigm, we train a reservoir of spiking neuron populations to act as a cen…
Restricted Boltzmann Machines and Deep Belief Networks have been successfully used in a wide variety of applications including image classification and speech recognition. Inference and learning in these algorithms uses a Markov Chain Monte Carlo procedure called Gibbs sampling. A sigmoidal function forms the kernel of this sampler which can be realized from the firing statistics of noisy integrate-and-fire neurons on a neuromorphic VLSI substrate. This paper demonstrates such an implementation on an array of digital spiking neurons with stochastic leak and threshold properties for inference t…
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 $μ$m C…
We present results related to the performance of an algorithm for community detection which incorporates event-driven computation. We define a mapping which takes a graph G to a system of spiking neurons. Using a fully connected spiking neuron system, with both inhibitory and excitatory synaptic connections, the firing patterns of neurons within the same community can be distinguished from firing patterns of neurons in different communities. On a random graph with 128 vertices and known community structure we show that by using binary decoding and a Hamming-distance based metric, individual co…
Solving constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) is a notoriously expensive computational task. Recently, it has been proposed that efficient stochastic solvers can be obtained through appropriately configured spiking neural networks performing Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling. The possibility to run such models on massively parallel, low-power neuromorphic hardware holds great promise; however, previously proposed networks are based on probabilistically spiking neurons, and thus rely on random number generators or external noise sources to achieve the necessary stochasticity, leading t…
Memristors have been suggested as neuromorphic computing elements. Spike-time dependent plasticity and the Hodgkin-Huxley model of the neuron have both been modelled effectively by memristor theory. The d.c. response of the memristor is a current spike. Based on these three facts we suggest that memristors are well-placed to interface directly with neurons. In this paper we show that connecting a spiking memristor network to spiking neuronal cells causes a change in the memristor network dynamics by: removing the memristor spikes, which we show is due to the effects of connection to aqueous me…
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour（唐德斯脑、认知与行为研究所）
Spiking neural networks are a promising approach towards next-generation models of the brain in computational neuroscience. Moreover, compared to classic artificial neural networks, they could serve as an energy-efficient deployment of AI by enabling fast computation in specialized neuromorphic hardware. However, training deep spiking neural networks, especially in an unsupervised manner, is challenging and the performance of a spiking model is significantly hindered by dead or bursting neurons. Here, we apply end-to-end learning with membrane potential-based backpropagation to a spiking convo…
We designed, prototyped, and experimentally demonstrated, for the first time to our knowledge, an optoelectronic spiking neuron inspired by the Izhikevich model incorporating both excitatory and inhibitory optical spiking inputs and producing optical spiking outputs accordingly. The optoelectronic neurons consist of three transistors acting as electrical spiking circuits, a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) for optical spiking outputs, and two photodetectors for excitatory and inhibitory optical spiking inputs. Additional inclusion of capacitors and resistors complete the Izhikevi…
Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience（理论神经科学中心）；University of Waterloo（滑铁卢大学）
We train spiking deep networks using leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neurons, and achieve state-of-the-art results for spiking networks on the CIFAR-10 and MNIST datasets. This demonstrates that biologically-plausible spiking LIF neurons can be integrated into deep networks can perform as well as other spiking models (e.g. integrate-and-fire). We achieved this result by softening the LIF response function, such that its derivative remains bounded, and by training the network with noise to provide robustness against the variability introduced by spikes. Our method is general and could be applied…
Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院自动化研究所）；School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学未来技术学院）；CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology（中国科学院脑科学与智能技术卓越创新中心）
Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) have been studied over decades to incorporate their biological plausibility and leverage their promising energy efficiency. Throughout existing SNNs, the leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) model is commonly adopted to formulate the spiking neuron and evolves into numerous variants with different biological features. However, most LIF-based neurons support only single biological feature in different neuronal behaviors, limiting their expressiveness and neuronal dynamic diversity. In this paper, we propose GLIF, a unified spiking neuron, to fuse different bio-features …
Spiking neural network is a type of artificial neural network in which neurons communicate between each other with spikes. Spikes are identical Boolean events characterized by the time of their arrival. A spiking neuron has internal dynamics and responds to the history of inputs as opposed to the current inputs only. Because of such properties a spiking neural network has rich intrinsic capabilities to process spatiotemporal data. However, because the spikes are discontinuous 'yes or no' events, it is not trivial to apply traditional training procedures such as gradient descend to the spiking …
We demonstrate a spiking neural network for navigation motivated by the chemotaxis network of Caenorhabditis elegans. Our network uses information regarding temporal gradients in the tracking variable's concentration to make navigational decisions. The gradient information is determined by mimicking the underlying mechanisms of the ASE neurons of C. elegans. Simulations show that our model is able to forage and track a target set-point in extremely noisy environments. We develop a VLSI implementation for the main gradient detector neurons, which could be integrated with standard comparator cir…
We consider the task of measuring time with probabilistic threshold gates implemented by bio-inspired spiking neurons. In the model of spiking neural networks, network evolves in discrete rounds, where in each round, neurons fire in pulses in response to a sufficiently high membrane potential. This potential is induced by spikes from neighboring neurons that fired in the previous round, which can have either an excitatory or inhibitory effect. We first consider a deterministic implementation of a neural timer and show that $Θ(\log t)$ (deterministic) threshold gates are both sufficient and nec…
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 sy…
We present a first-order non-homogeneous Markov model for the interspike-interval density of a continuously stimulated spiking neuron. The model allows the conditional interspike-interval density and the stationary interspike-interval density to be expressed as products of two separate functions, one of which describes only the neuron characteristics, and the other of which describes only the signal characteristics. This allows the use of this model to predict the response when the underlying neuron model is not known or well determined. The approximation shows particularly clearly that signal…
Due to the fundamental limit to reducing power consumption of running deep learning models on von-Neumann architecture, research on neuromorphic computing systems based on low-power spiking neural networks using analog neurons is in the spotlight. In order to integrate a large number of neurons, neurons need to be designed to occupy a small area, but as technology scales down, analog neurons are difficult to scale, and they suffer from reduced voltage headroom/dynamic range and circuit nonlinearities. In light of this, this paper first models the nonlinear behavior of existing current-mirror-b…
Network of neurons in the brain apply - unlike processors in our current generation of computer hardware - an event-based processing strategy, where short pulses (spikes) are emitted sparsely by neurons to signal the occurrence of an event at a particular point in time. Such spike-based computations promise to be substantially more power-efficient than traditional clocked processing schemes. However it turned out to be surprisingly difficult to design networks of spiking neurons that are able to carry out demanding computations. We present here a new theoretical framework for organizing comput…
Due to the limitations of realizing artificial neural networks on prevalent von Neumann architectures, recent studies have presented neuromorphic systems based on spiking neural networks (SNNs) to reduce power and computational cost. However, conventional analog voltage-domain integrate-and-fire (I&F) neuron circuits, based on either current mirrors or op-amps, pose serious issues such as nonlinearity or high power consumption, thereby degrading either inference accuracy or energy efficiency of the SNN. To achieve excellent energy efficiency and high accuracy simultaneously, this paper present…
We address the problem of learning feedback control where the controller is a network constructed solely of deterministic spiking neurons. In contrast to previous investigations that were based on a spike rate model of the neuron, the control signal here is determined by the precise temporal positions of spikes generated by the output neurons of the network. We model the problem formally as a hybrid dynamical system comprised of a closed loop between a plant and a spiking neuron network. We derive a novel synaptic weight update rule via which the spiking neuron network controller learns to hol…
The sense of touch is essential for a variety of daily tasks. New advances in event-based tactile sensors and Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) spur the research in event-driven tactile learning. However, SNN-enabled event-driven tactile learning is still in its infancy due to the limited representative abilities of existing spiking neurons and high spatio-temporal complexity in the data. In this paper, to improve the representative capabilities of existing spiking neurons, we propose a novel neuron model called "location spiking neuron", which enables us to extract features of event-based data i…
All-optical binary convolution with a photonic spiking vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) neuron is proposed and demonstrated experimentally for the first time. Optical inputs, extracted from digital images and temporally encoded using rectangular pulses, are injected in the VCSEL neuron which delivers the convolution result in the number of fast (<100 ps long) spikes fired. Experimental and numerical results show that binary convolution is achieved successfully with a single spiking VCSEL neuron and that all-optical binary convolution can be used to calculate image gradient magnit…
Silicon bipolar impact ionization MOSFET offers the potential for realization of leaky integrated fire (LIF) neuron due to the presence of parasitic BJT in the floating body. In this work, we have proposed an L shaped gate bipolar impact ionization MOS (L-BIMOS), with reduced breakdown voltage ($V_{B}$ = 1.68 V) and demonstrated the functioning of LIF neuron based on positive feedback mechanism of parasitic BJT. Using 2-D TCAD simulations, we manifest that the proposed L-BIMOS exhibits a low threshold voltage (0.2 V) for firing a spike, and the minimum energy required to fire a single spike fo…
This paper describes the Synapto-dendritic Kernel Adapting Neuron (SKAN), a simple spiking neuron model that performs statistical inference and unsupervised learning of spatiotemporal spike patterns. SKAN is the first proposed neuron model to investigate the effects of dynamic synapto-dendritic kernels and demonstrate their computational power even at the single neuron scale. The rule-set defining the neuron is simple there are no complex mathematical operations such as normalization, exponentiation or even multiplication. The functionalities of SKAN emerge from the real-time interaction of si…
In this work, we explore a new Spiking Neural Network (SNN) formulation with Resonate-and-Fire (RAF) neurons (Izhikevich, 2001) trained with gradient descent via back-propagation. The RAF-SNN, while more biologically plausible, achieves performance comparable to or higher than conventional models in the Machine Learning literature across different network configurations, using similar or fewer parameters. Strikingly, the RAF-SNN proves robust against noise induced at testing/training time, under both static and dynamic conditions. Against CNN on MNIST, we show 25% higher absolute accuracy with…
CASIA（中国科学院自动化研究所）；Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, CAS（中国科学院脑科学与智能技术卓越创新中心）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）
Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) use discrete spike sequences to transmit information, which significantly mimics the information transmission of the brain. Although this binarized form of representation dramatically enhances the energy efficiency and robustness of SNNs, it also leaves a large gap between the performance of SNNs and Artificial Neural Networks based on real values. There are many different spike patterns in the brain, and the dynamic synergy of these spike patterns greatly enriches the representation capability. Inspired by spike patterns in biological neurons, this paper introdu…
Multi-compartment Neuron and Population Encoding Powered Spiking Neural Network for Deep Distributional Reinforcement Learning
Brain-inspired Cognitive Intelligence Lab, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院自动化研究所类脑认知智能实验室）；Center for Long-term Artificial Intelligence（长期人工智能中心）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Key Laboratory of Brain Cognition and Brain-inspired Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院脑认知与脑智能技术重点实验室）
Maintaining the ability to fire sparsely is crucial for information encoding in neural networks. Additionally, spiking homeostasis is vital for spiking neural networks with changing numbers of weights and neurons. We discuss a range of network stabilisation approaches, inspired by homeostatic synaptic plasticity mechanisms reported in the brain. These include weight scaling, and weight change as a function of the network's spiking activity. We tested normalisation of the sum of weights for all neurons, and by neuron type. We examined how this approach affects firing rate and performance on clu…
Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) have recently attracted significant research interest as the third generation of artificial neural networks that can enable low-power event-driven data analytics. The best performing SNNs for image recognition tasks are obtained by converting a trained Analog Neural Network (ANN), consisting of Rectified Linear Units (ReLU), to SNN composed of integrate-and-fire neurons with "proper" firing thresholds. The converted SNNs typically incur loss in accuracy compared to that provided by the original ANN and require sizable number of inference time-steps to achieve the…
Tactile sensing is essential for a variety of daily tasks. And recent advances in event-driven tactile sensors and Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) spur the research in related fields. However, SNN-enabled event-driven tactile learning is still in its infancy due to the limited representation abilities of existing spiking neurons and high spatio-temporal complexity in the event-driven tactile data. In this paper, to improve the representation capability of existing spiking neurons, we propose a novel neuron model called "location spiking neuron", which enables us to extract features of event-bas…
A main concern in cognitive neuroscience is to decode the overt neural spike train observations and infer latent representations under neural circuits. However, traditional methods entail strong prior on network structure and hardly meet the demand for real spike data. Here we propose a novel neural network approach called Neuron Activation Network that extracts neural information explicitly from single trial neuron population spike trains. Our proposed method consists of a spatiotemporal learning procedure on sensory environment and a message passing mechanism on population graph, followed by…
