TrueNorth

DARPA SyNAPSE 16 chip board with IBM TrueNorth

TrueNorth is a neuromorphic CMOS chip produced by IBM.[1] It is a manycore network on a chip design, with 4096 cores in the current chip, each one simulating 256 programmable silicon "neurons" for a total of just over a million neurons. In turn, each neuron has 256 programmable "synapses" which convey the signals between them. Hence, the total number of programmable synapses is just over 268 million (2^28). In terms of basic building blocks, its transistor count is 5.4 billion. Since memory, computation, and communication are handled in each of the 4096 neurosynaptic cores, TrueNorth circumvents the von-Neumann-architecture bottlenecks and is very energy-efficient, consuming 70 milliwatts, about 1/10,000th the power density of conventional microprocessors.[2] The SyNAPSE chip (introduced mid 2014) operates at lower temperatures and less power because it operates only when it needs, rather than all the time.

Since this is a totally new architecture, programming it requires a fundamentally new way of thinking. IBM Research has started SyNAPSE University, which is a curriculum of lectures, hands-on exercises, and coaching that helps interested parties build these complex neurosynaptic systems. IBM is taking applications from scholars and researchers who want to work on and develop the SyNAPSE eco-system.[3]

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References

  1. ↑ Merolla, P. A.; Arthur, J. V.; Alvarez-Icaza, R.; Cassidy, A. S.; Sawada, J.; Akopyan, F.; Jackson, B. L.; Imam, N.; Guo, C.; Nakamura, Y.; Brezzo, B.; Vo, I.; Esser, S. K.; Appuswamy, R.; Taba, B.; Amir, A.; Flickner, M. D.; Risk, W. P.; Manohar, R.; Modha, D. S. (2014). "A million spiking-neuron integrated circuit with a scalable communication network and interface". Science 345 (6197): 668. doi:10.1126/science.1254642.
  2. ↑ http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/how-ibm-got-brainlike-efficiency-from-the-truenorth-chip How IBM Got Brainlike Efficiency From the TrueNorth Chip
  3. ↑ Brain Power IBM Research

Further reading

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