- Info
Dr. Chris Bailey
Advanced
Computer Architecture Group Research and
Studentship Places
JOINT AIG-ACAG PhD
Towards
Ultra-Scalable Neuron Architectures
PhD
RESEARCH PROJECT SYNOPSIS
Artificial
Neural Networks (ANNs) have great
potential to revolutionise modern day
technology. The drive toward systems with
thousands of neurons has highlighted the
issue of scalability and power consumption
as a significant limitation as we move
toward the next step, that of millions of
neurons and beyond. This project therefore
seeks to develop novel ideas to support
highly scalable neural architectures in
hardware, which have both a low-power
characteristic and a high interconnect
scalability. These attributes should be
beneficial initially for FPGAs, but also
in VLSI implementations, where transistors
and wires scale at different rates.
The
project will examine two key neural
network approaches. The first will be
traditional fixed-topology network
architecture, the second will be flexible
dynamically rewireable general-purpose
architecture. The project will investigate
both continuous valued and spiked neural
networks based upon temporal-serial spike
chains.
Work
will include developing training schemes
for both networks, building interfaces to
high-level machine learning toolkits such
as TensorFlow and Theano, evaluating their
functionality and efficiency, and refining
the hardware models before implementation
on FPGA and in VLSI toolsets. Trade-offs
between the two approaches and their
relative suitability for FPGA vs VLSI will
be examined. The core research question
will be to determine if the temporal
spike-chain method can achieve higher
performance (according to various metrics)
than the traditional approach when
implemented in hardware.
The
candidate would ideally have a background
knowledge of VLSI tools, current knowledge
of FPGA toolsets, and an interest in
neural networks and their theory. Students
with a strong Computer Science background
and an interest in digital electronics, or
an electronics student with strong
mathematical/ and software skills would be
well suited to the position.
The
project will be supervised by Dr Chris
Crispin-Bailey (Advanced Architectures
Group), and Dr Suresh Manandhar
(Artificial Intelligence Group).
Please contact chrisb@cs.york.ac.uk for
any questions relating to this PhD topic.