research-article

Unicorn: a multicore neuromorphic processor with flexible fan-in and unconstrained fan-out for neurons

Authors:

Weixia XuAuthors Info & Claims

DAC '22: Proceedings of the 59th ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference

Pages 943 - 948

https://doi.org/10.1145/3489517.3530563

Published: 23 August 2022 Publication History

Abstract

Neuromorphic processor is popular due to its high energy efficiency for spatio-temporal applications. However, when running the spiking neural network (SNN) topologies with the ever-growing scale, existing neuromorphic architectures face challenges due to their restrictions on neuron fan-in and fan-out. This paper proposes Unicorn, a multicore neuromorphic processor with a spike train sliding multicasting mechanism (STSM) and neuron merging mechanism (NMM) to support unconstrained fan-out and flexible fan-in of neurons. Unicorn supports 36K neurons and 45M synapses and thus supports a variety of neuromorphic applications. The peak performance and energy efficiency of Unicorn reach 36TSOPS and 424GSOPS/W respectively. Experimental results show that Unicorn can achieve 2×-5.5× energy reduction over the state-of-the-art neuromorphic processor when running an SNN with a relatively large fan-out and fan-in.

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Cited By

Tian FZhang LZhu LZhao MLiu JDong QZhao Q(2024)Advancements in Affective Disorder Detection: Using Multimodal Physiological Signals and Neuromorphic Computing Based on SNNsIEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems10.1109/TCSS.2024.342044511:6(7309-7337)Online publication date: Dec-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/TCSS.2024.3420445
Xiao CHe XYang ZXiao XWang YGong RTie JWang LXu W(2024)Hierarchical Mapping of Large-Scale Spiking Convolutional Neural Networks Onto Resource-Constrained Neuromorphic ProcessorIEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems10.1109/TCAD.2023.334407043:5(1442-1455)Online publication date: May-2024
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Ma DJin XSun SLi YWu XHu YYang FTang HZhu XLin PPan G(2024)Darwin3: a large-scale neuromorphic chip with a novel ISA and on-chip learningNational Science Review10.1093/nsr/nwae10211:5Online publication date: 18-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwae102
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cover image ACM Conferences

DAC '22: Proceedings of the 59th ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference

July 2022

1462 pages

ISBN:9781450391429

DOI:10.1145/3489517

General Chair:
Rob Oshana
NXP

Copyright © 2022 ACM.

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Publication History

Published: 23 August 2022

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National Key R&D Program of China

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DAC '22: 59th ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference

July 10 - 14, 2022

California, San Francisco

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Overall Acceptance Rate 1,770 of 5,499 submissions, 32%

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Cited By

Tian FZhang LZhu LZhao MLiu JDong QZhao Q(2024)Advancements in Affective Disorder Detection: Using Multimodal Physiological Signals and Neuromorphic Computing Based on SNNsIEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems10.1109/TCSS.2024.342044511:6(7309-7337)Online publication date: Dec-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/TCSS.2024.3420445
Xiao CHe XYang ZXiao XWang YGong RTie JWang LXu W(2024)Hierarchical Mapping of Large-Scale Spiking Convolutional Neural Networks Onto Resource-Constrained Neuromorphic ProcessorIEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems10.1109/TCAD.2023.334407043:5(1442-1455)Online publication date: May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/TCAD.2023.3344070
Ma DJin XSun SLi YWu XHu YYang FTang HZhu XLin PPan G(2024)Darwin3: a large-scale neuromorphic chip with a novel ISA and on-chip learningNational Science Review10.1093/nsr/nwae10211:5Online publication date: 18-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwae102
Xiao CChen JWang L(2022)Optimal Mapping of Spiking Neural Network to Neuromorphic Hardware for Edge-AISensors10.3390/s2219724822:19(7248)Online publication date: 24-Sep-2022
https://doi.org/10.3390/s22197248
Xiao CWang YChen JWang L(2022)Topology-Aware Mapping of Spiking Neural Network to Neuromorphic ProcessorElectronics10.3390/electronics1118286711:18(2867)Online publication date: 10-Sep-2022
https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11182867
Lin BWang LYang ZTie JZhou GYu X(2022)A Configurable Inter-chip Connection Architecture for Multicore Neuromorphic Chip2022 4th International Conference on Frontiers Technology of Information and Computer (ICFTIC)10.1109/ICFTIC57696.2022.10075267(928-931)Online publication date: 2-Dec-2022
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICFTIC57696.2022.10075267

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