High-fidelity pulse density modulation in neuromorphic electric circuits utilizing natural heterogeneity

• Utagawa Akira

  Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University

• Asai Tetsuya

  Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University

• Amemiya Yoshihito

  Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University

Abstract

Hospedales et al. have recently proposed a neural network model of the “vestibulo-ocular reflex” (VOR) in which a common input was given to multiple nonidentical spiking neurons that were exposed to uncorrelated temporal noise, and the output was represented by the sum of these neurons. Although the function of the VOR network is equivalent to pulse density modulation, the neurons' non-uniformity and temporal noises given to the neurons were shown to improve the output spike's fidelity to the analog input. In this paper, we propose a CMOS analog circuit for implementing the VOR network that exploits the non-uniformity of real MOS devices. Through extensive laboratory experiments using discrete MOS devices, we show that the output's fidelity to the input pulses is clearly improved by using multiple neuron circuits, in which the non-uniformity is naturally embedded into the devices.

Journal

• Nonlinear Theory and Its Applications, IEICE

  Nonlinear Theory and Its Applications, IEICE 2 (2), 218-225, 2011

  The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers

Keywords

• vestibulo-ocular reflex
• integrate-and-fire neuron
• neural network
• pulse density modulation

Details

• CRID: 1390282680321164288
• NII Article ID: 130000903456
• DOI: 10.1587/nolta.2.218
• ISSN: 21854106
• Web Site: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/nolta/2/2/2_2_218/_pdf
• Text Lang: en
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • Crossref
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN
• Abstract License Flag: Disallowed