TY - JOUR
T1 - AER-SRT
T2 - Scalable spike distribution by means of synchronous serial ring topology address event representation
AU - Dorta, Taho
AU - Zapata, Mireya
AU - Madrenas, Jordi
AU - Sánchez, Giovanny
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2016/1/1
Y1 - 2016/1/1
N2 - Given the massive number of interconnects in Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), distributing spikes effciently becomes a critical issue for the efficient hardware emulation of large-scale SNNs. In this work, the AER-SRT (Address Event Representation over Synchronous Serial Ring Topology) architecture for spike transmission is proposed. AER-SRT is a light, easily scalable, packet-based solution implemented with high-speed serial link for multi-chip SNN communication. The channel uses a unidirectional, point-to-point connection between nodes, which provides a high transmission speed. Events (spikes) are distributed among all the nodes in a ring-topology pipeline fashion and the synchronous AER guarantees a collision-free scheme. The fast speed and efficient channel usage limits the spike distribution time to values that allow real-time operation for network sizes that can be calculated with simple design equations. Also, in the proposed communication protocol there is no specific or master node, so new nodes can be added to the ring by simply modifying two configuration parameters. As a proof of concept, a prototype of the architecture has been implemented and tested on FPGA development boards.
AB - Given the massive number of interconnects in Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), distributing spikes effciently becomes a critical issue for the efficient hardware emulation of large-scale SNNs. In this work, the AER-SRT (Address Event Representation over Synchronous Serial Ring Topology) architecture for spike transmission is proposed. AER-SRT is a light, easily scalable, packet-based solution implemented with high-speed serial link for multi-chip SNN communication. The channel uses a unidirectional, point-to-point connection between nodes, which provides a high transmission speed. Events (spikes) are distributed among all the nodes in a ring-topology pipeline fashion and the synchronous AER guarantees a collision-free scheme. The fast speed and efficient channel usage limits the spike distribution time to values that allow real-time operation for network sizes that can be calculated with simple design equations. Also, in the proposed communication protocol there is no specific or master node, so new nodes can be added to the ring by simply modifying two configuration parameters. As a proof of concept, a prototype of the architecture has been implemented and tested on FPGA development boards.
KW - AER (Address Event Representation)
KW - Aurora protocol
KW - Multi-chip communication
KW - SNN emulation
KW - Synchronous serial ring
KW - Time slot emulation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84944514140&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neucom.2015.07.080
DO - 10.1016/j.neucom.2015.07.080
M3 - Artículo
AN - SCOPUS:84944514140
SN - 0925-2312
VL - 171
SP - 1684
EP - 1690
JO - Neurocomputing
JF - Neurocomputing
ER -