Neuromorphic systems require user-friendly software to support the design and optimization of experiments. In this work, we address this need by presenting our development of a machine learning-based modeling framework for the BrainScaleS-2 neuromorphic system. This work represents an improvement over previous efforts, which either focused on the matrix-multiplication mode of BrainScaleS-2 or lacked full automation. Our framework, called hxtorch.snn, enables the hardware-in-the-loop training of spiking neural networks within PyTorch, including support for auto differentiation in a fully-automated hardware experiment workflow. In addition, hxtorch.snn facilitates seamless transitions between emulating on hardware and simulating in software. We demonstrate the capabilities of hxtorch.snn on a classification task using the Yin-Yang dataset employing a gradient-based approach with surrogate gradients and densely sampled membrane observations from the BrainScaleS-2 hardware system.

尖峰神经网络（SNN）为时间信号处理提供了有效的计算机制，尤其是与低功率SNN推理相结合时。历史上很难配置SNN，缺乏为任意任务寻找解决方案的一般方法。近年来，逐渐发芽的优化方法已应用于SNN，并且越来越轻松。因此，SNN和SNN推理处理器为在没有云依赖性的能源约束环境中为商业低功率信号处理提供了一个良好的平台。但是，迄今为止，行业中的ML工程师无法访问这些方法，需要研究生级培训才能成功配置单个SNN应用程序。在这里，我们演示了一条方便的高级管道，用于设计，训练和部署任意的时间信号处理应用程序，向子-MW SNN推理硬件。我们使用用于时间信号处理的新型直接SNN体系结构，使用突触时间常数的金字塔在一系列时间尺度上提取信号特征。我们在环境音频分类任务上演示了这种体系结构，该任务部署在流式传输模式下的Xylo SNN推理处理器上。我们的应用以低功率（<4MUW推理功率）达到了高准确性（98％）和低潜伏期（100ms）。我们的方法使培训和部署SNN应用程序可用于具有通用NN背景的ML工程师，而无需先前的Spiking NNS经验。我们打算将神经形态硬件和SNN成为商业低功率和边缘信号处理应用程序的吸引人选择。

神经形态计算是一个新兴的研究领域，旨在通过整合来自神经科学和深度学习等多学科的理论和技术来开发新的智能系统。当前，已经为相关字段开发了各种软件框架，但是缺乏专门用于基于Spike的计算模型和算法的有效框架。在这项工作中，我们提出了一个基于Python的尖峰神经网络（SNN）模拟和培训框架，又名Spaic，旨在支持脑启发的模型和算法研究，并与深度学习和神经科学的特征集成在一起。为了整合两个压倒性学科的不同方法，以及灵活性和效率之间的平衡，SpaiC设计采用神经科学风格的前端和深度学习后端结构设计。我们提供了广泛的示例，包括神经回路模拟，深入的SNN学习和神经形态应用，展示了简洁的编码样式和框架的广泛可用性。 Spaic是一个专用的基于SPIKE的人工智能计算平台，它将显着促进新模型，理论和应用的设计，原型和验证。具有用户友好，灵活和高性能，它将有助于加快神经形态计算研究的快速增长和广泛的适用性。

编译器框架对于广泛使用基于FPGA的深度学习加速器来说是至关重要的。它们允许研究人员和开发人员不熟悉硬件工程，以利用域特定逻辑所获得的性能。存在传统人工神经网络的各种框架。然而，没有多大的研究努力已经进入创建针对尖刺神经网络（SNNS）进行优化的框架。这种新一代的神经网络对于在边缘设备上部署AI的越来越有趣，其具有紧密的功率和资源约束。我们的端到端框架E3NE为FPGA自动生成高效的SNN推理逻辑。基于Pytorch模型和用户参数，它应用各种优化，并评估基于峰值的加速器固有的权衡。多个水平的并行性和新出现的神经编码方案的使用导致优于先前的SNN硬件实现的效率。对于类似的型号，E3NE使用的硬件资源的少于50％，功率较低20％，同时通过幅度降低延迟。此外，可扩展性和通用性允许部署大规模的SNN模型AlexNet和VGG。

穗状花序的神经形状硬件占据了深度神经网络（DNN）的更节能实现的承诺，而不是GPU的标准硬件。但这需要了解如何在基于事件的稀疏触发制度中仿真DNN，否则能量优势丢失。特别地，解决序列处理任务的DNN通常采用难以使用少量尖峰效仿的长短期存储器（LSTM）单元。我们展示了许多生物神经元的面部，在每个尖峰后缓慢的超积极性（AHP）电流，提供了有效的解决方案。 AHP电流可以轻松地在支持多舱神经元模型的神经形状硬件中实现，例如英特尔的Loihi芯片。滤波近似理论解释为什么AHP-Neurons可以模拟LSTM单元的功能。这产生了高度节能的时间序列分类方法。此外，它为实现了非常稀疏的大量大型DNN来实现基础，这些大型DNN在文本中提取单词和句子之间的关系，以便回答有关文本的问题。

Spiking neural networks (SNN) are a viable alternative to conventional artificial neural networks when energy efficiency and computational complexity are of importance. A major advantage of SNNs is their binary information transfer through spike trains. The training of SNN has, however, been a challenge, since neuron models are non-differentiable and traditional gradient-based backpropagation algorithms cannot be applied directly. Furthermore, spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP), albeit being a spike-based learning rule, updates weights locally and does not optimize for the output error of the network. We present desire backpropagation, a method to derive the desired spike activity of neurons from the output error. The loss function can then be evaluated locally for every neuron. Incorporating the desire values into the STDP weight update leads to global error minimization and increasing classification accuracy. At the same time, the neuron dynamics and computational efficiency of STDP are maintained, making it a spike-based supervised learning rule. We trained three-layer networks to classify MNIST and Fashion-MNIST images and reached an accuracy of 98.41% and 87.56%, respectively. Furthermore, we show that desire backpropagation is computationally less complex than backpropagation in traditional neural networks.

In the past years, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have become the de-facto standard to solve tasks in communications engineering that are difficult to solve with traditional methods. In parallel, the artificial intelligence community drives its research to biology-inspired, brain-like spiking neural networks (SNNs), which promise extremely energy-efficient computing. In this paper, we investigate the use of SNNs in the context of channel equalization for ultra-low complexity receivers. We propose an SNN-based equalizer with a feedback structure akin to the decision feedback equalizer (DFE). For conversion of real-world data into spike signals we introduce a novel ternary encoding and compare it with traditional log-scale encoding. We show that our approach clearly outperforms conventional linear equalizers for three different exemplary channels. We highlight that mainly the conversion of the channel output to spikes introduces a small performance penalty. The proposed SNN with a decision feedback structure enables the path to competitive energy-efficient transceivers.

The term ``neuromorphic'' refers to systems that are closely resembling the architecture and/or the dynamics of biological neural networks. Typical examples are novel computer chips designed to mimic the architecture of a biological brain, or sensors that get inspiration from, e.g., the visual or olfactory systems in insects and mammals to acquire information about the environment. This approach is not without ambition as it promises to enable engineered devices able to reproduce the level of performance observed in biological organisms -- the main immediate advantage being the efficient use of scarce resources, which translates into low power requirements. The emphasis on low power and energy efficiency of neuromorphic devices is a perfect match for space applications. Spacecraft -- especially miniaturized ones -- have strict energy constraints as they need to operate in an environment which is scarce with resources and extremely hostile. In this work we present an overview of early attempts made to study a neuromorphic approach in a space context at the European Space Agency's (ESA) Advanced Concepts Team (ACT).

尖峰神经网络（SNN）已成为用于分类任务的硬件有效体系结构。基于尖峰的编码的惩罚是缺乏完全使用尖峰执行的通用训练机制。已经进行了几项尝试，用于采用在非加速人工神经网络（ANN）中使用的强大反向传播（BP）技术：（1）SNN可以通过外部计算的数值梯度来训练。 （2）基于天然尖峰的学习的主要进步是使用具有分阶段的前向/向后传递的尖峰时间依赖性可塑性（STDP）的近似反向传播。但是，在此类阶段之间的信息传输需要外部内存和计算访问。这是神经形态硬件实现的挑战。在本文中，我们提出了一种基于随机SNN的后式Prop（SSNN-BP）算法，该算法利用复合神经元同时计算前向通行激活，并用尖峰明确计算前向传递梯度。尽管签名的梯度值是基于SPIKE的表示的挑战，但我们通过将梯度信号分为正和负流来解决这一问题。复合神经元以随机尖峰传播的形式编码信息，并将反向传播的权重更新转换为时间和空间上局部离散的STDP类似STDP的Spike Concike更新，使其与硬件友好的电阻式处理单元（RPU）兼容。此外，我们的方法使用足够长的尖峰训练来接近BP ANN基线。最后，我们表明，可以通过强制执行胜利者的抑制性横向连接来实现软磁体交叉渗透损失函数。我们的SNN通过与MNIST，时尚和扩展的MNIST数据集的ANN相当的性能来表现出极好的概括。因此，SSNN-BP可以使BP与纯粹基于尖峰的神经形态硬件兼容。

我们提出了Memprop，即采用基于梯度的学习来培训完全的申请尖峰神经网络（MSNNS）。我们的方法利用固有的设备动力学来触发自然产生的电压尖峰。这些由回忆动力学发出的尖峰本质上是类似物，因此完全可区分，这消除了尖峰神经网络（SNN）文献中普遍存在的替代梯度方法的需求。回忆性神经网络通常将备忘录集成为映射离线培训网络的突触，或者以其他方式依靠关联学习机制来训练候选神经元的网络。相反，我们直接在循环神经元和突触的模拟香料模型上应用了通过时间（BPTT）训练算法的反向传播。我们的实现是完全的综合性，因为突触重量和尖峰神经元都集成在电阻RAM（RRAM）阵列上，而无需其他电路来实现尖峰动态，例如模数转换器（ADCS）或阈值比较器。结果，高阶电物理效应被充分利用，以在运行时使用磁性神经元的状态驱动动力学。通过朝着非同一梯度的学习迈进，我们在以前报道的几个基准上的轻巧密集的完全MSNN中获得了高度竞争的准确性。

超低功耗本地信号处理是始终安装在设备上的边缘应用的关键方面。尖刺神经网络的神经形态处理器显示出很大的计算能力，同时根据该领域的需要满足有限的电力预算。在这项工作中，我们提出了尖峰神经动力学作为扩张时间卷积的自然替代品。我们将这个想法扩展到WaveSense，这是一个由Wavenet Architects的激发灵感的尖峰神经网络。WaveSense使用简单的神经动力学，固定时间常数和简单的前馈结构，因此特别适用于神经形态实现。我们在几个数据集中测试此模型的功能，以用于关键字斑点。结果表明，该网络击败了其他尖刺神经网络的领域，并达到了诸如CNN和LSTM的人工神经网络的最先进的性能。

由于它们的低能量消耗，对神经形态计算设备上的尖刺神经网络（SNNS）越来越兴趣。最近的进展使培训SNNS在精度方面开始与传统人工神经网络（ANNS）进行竞争，同时在神经胸壁上运行时的节能。然而，培训SNNS的过程仍然基于最初为ANNS开发的密集的张量操作，这不利用SNN的时空稀疏性质。我们在这里介绍第一稀疏SNN BackPropagation算法，该算法与最新的现有技术实现相同或更好的准确性，同时显着更快，更高的记忆力。我们展示了我们对不同复杂性（时尚 - MNIST，神经影像学 - MNIST和Spiking Heidelberg数字的真实数据集的有效性，在不失精度的情况下实现了高达150倍的后向通行证的加速，而不会减少精度。

我们提出了一种新的学习算法，使用传统的人工神经网络（ANN）作为代理训练尖刺神经网络（SNN）。我们分别与具有相同网络架构和共享突触权重的集成和火（IF）和Relu神经元进行两次SNN和ANN网络。两个网络的前进通过完全独立。通过假设具有速率编码的神经元作为Relu的近似值，我们将SNN中的SNN的误差进行了回复，以更新共享权重，只需用SNN的ANN最终输出替换ANN最终输出。我们将建议的代理学习应用于深度卷积的SNNS，并在Fahion-Mnist和CiFar10的两个基准数据集上进行评估，分别为94.56％和93.11％的分类准确性。所提出的网络可以优于培训的其他深鼻涕，训练，替代学习，代理梯度学习，或从深处转换。转换的SNNS需要长时间的仿真时间来达到合理的准确性，而我们的代理学习导致高效的SNN，模拟时间较短。

Event-based simulations of Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) are fast and accurate. However, they are rarely used in the context of event-based gradient descent because their implementations on GPUs are difficult. Discretization with the forward Euler method is instead often used with gradient descent techniques but has the disadvantage of being computationally expensive. Moreover, the lack of precision of discretized simulations can create mismatches between the simulated models and analog neuromorphic hardware. In this work, we propose a new exact error-backpropagation through spikes method for SNNs, extending Fast \& Deep to multiple spikes per neuron. We show that our method can be efficiently implemented on GPUs in a fully event-based manner, making it fast to compute and precise enough for analog neuromorphic hardware. Compared to the original Fast \& Deep and the current state-of-the-art event-based gradient-descent algorithms, we demonstrate increased performance on several benchmark datasets with both feedforward and convolutional SNNs. In particular, we show that multi-spike SNNs can have advantages over single-spike networks in terms of convergence, sparsity, classification latency and sensitivity to the dead neuron problem.

Loihi is a 60-mm 2 chip fabricated in Intel's 14-nm process that advances the state-of-the-art modeling of spiking neural networks in silicon. It integrates a wide range of novel features for the field, such as hierarchical connectivity, dendritic compartments, synaptic delays, and, most importantly, programmable synaptic learning rules. Running a spiking convolutional form of the Locally Competitive Algorithm, Loihi can solve LASSO optimization problems with over three orders of magnitude superior energy-delay product compared to conventional solvers running on a CPU isoprocess/voltage/area. This provides an unambiguous example of spike-based computation, outperforming all known conventional solutions.Neuroscience offers a bountiful source of inspiration for novel hardware architectures and algorithms. Through their complex interactions at large scales, biological neurons exhibit an impressive range of behaviors and properties that we currently struggle to model with modern analytical tools, let alone replicate with our design and manufacturing technology. Some of the magic that we see in the brain undoubtedly stems from exotic device and material properties that will remain out of our fabs' reach for

We propose a novel backpropagation algorithm for training spiking neural networks (SNNs) that encodes information in the relative multiple spike timing of individual neurons without single-spike restrictions. The proposed algorithm inherits the advantages of conventional timing-based methods in that it computes accurate gradients with respect to spike timing, which promotes ideal temporal coding. Unlike conventional methods where each neuron fires at most once, the proposed algorithm allows each neuron to fire multiple times. This extension naturally improves the computational capacity of SNNs. Our SNN model outperformed comparable SNN models and achieved as high accuracy as non-convolutional artificial neural networks. The spike count property of our networks was altered depending on the time constant of the postsynaptic current and the membrane potential. Moreover, we found that there existed the optimal time constant with the maximum test accuracy. That was not seen in conventional SNNs with single-spike restrictions on time-to-fast-spike (TTFS) coding. This result demonstrates the computational properties of SNNs that biologically encode information into the multi-spike timing of individual neurons. Our code would be publicly available.

In a recent paper Wunderlich and Pehle introduced the EventProp algorithm that enables training spiking neural networks by gradient descent on exact gradients. In this paper we present extensions of EventProp to support a wider class of loss functions and an implementation in the GPU enhanced neuronal networks framework which exploits sparsity. The GPU acceleration allows us to test EventProp extensively on more challenging learning benchmarks. We find that EventProp performs well on some tasks but for others there are issues where learning is slow or fails entirely. Here, we analyse these issues in detail and discover that they relate to the use of the exact gradient of the loss function, which by its nature does not provide information about loss changes due to spike creation or spike deletion. Depending on the details of the task and loss function, descending the exact gradient with EventProp can lead to the deletion of important spikes and so to an inadvertent increase of the loss and decrease of classification accuracy and hence a failure to learn. In other situations the lack of knowledge about the benefits of creating additional spikes can lead to a lack of gradient flow into earlier layers, slowing down learning. We eventually present a first glimpse of a solution to these problems in the form of `loss shaping', where we introduce a suitable weighting function into an integral loss to increase gradient flow from the output layer towards earlier layers.

由于其异步，稀疏和二进制信息处理，尖峰神经网络（SNN）最近成为人工神经网络（ANN）的低功耗替代品。为了提高能源效率和吞吐量，可以在使用新兴的非挥发性（NVM）设备在模拟域中实现多重和蓄积（MAC）操作的回忆横梁上实现SNN。尽管SNN与回忆性横梁具有兼容性，但很少关注固有的横杆非理想性和随机性对SNN的性能的影响。在本文中，我们对SNN在非理想横杆上的鲁棒性进行了全面分析。我们检查通过学习算法训练的SNN，例如，替代梯度和ANN-SNN转换。我们的结果表明，跨多个时间阶段的重复横梁计算会导致错误积累，从而导致SNN推断期间的性能下降。我们进一步表明，经过较少时间步长培训的SNN在部署在磁带横梁上时可以更好地准确。

由于降低了von-neumann架构运行深度学习模型的功耗的基本限制，在聚光灯下，基于低功率尖刺神经网络的神经栓塞系统的研究。为了整合大量神经元，神经元需要设计占据一个小面积，而是随着技术缩小，模拟神经元难以缩放，并且它们遭受降低的电压净空/动态范围和电路非线性。鉴于此，本文首先模拟了在28nm工艺中设计的现有电流镜的电压域神经元的非线性行为，并显示了神经元非线性的效果严重降低了SNN推理精度。然后，为了减轻这个问题，我们提出了一种新的神经元，该新型神经元在时域中加入输入的尖峰，并且大大改善了线性度，从而改善了与现有电压域神经元相比的推理精度。在Mnist DataSet上进行测试，所提出的神经元的推理误差率与理想神经元的引起误差率不同于0.1％。

这项研究提出了依赖电压突触可塑性（VDSP），这是一种新型的脑启发的无监督的本地学习规则，用于在线实施HEBB对神经形态硬件的可塑性机制。拟议的VDSP学习规则仅更新了突触后神经元的尖峰的突触电导，这使得相对于标准峰值依赖性可塑性（STDP）的更新数量减少了两倍。此更新取决于突触前神经元的膜电位，该神经元很容易作为神经元实现的一部分，因此不需要额外的存储器来存储。此外，该更新还对突触重量进行了正规化，并防止重复刺激时的重量爆炸或消失。进行严格的数学分析以在VDSP和STDP之间达到等效性。为了验证VDSP的系统级性能，我们训练一个单层尖峰神经网络（SNN），以识别手写数字。我们报告85.01 $ \ pm $ 0.76％（平均$ \ pm $ s.d。）对于MNIST数据集中的100个输出神经元网络的精度。在缩放网络大小时，性能会提高（400个输出神经元的89.93 $ \ pm $ 0.41％，500个神经元为90.56 $ \ pm $ 0.27），这验证了大规模计算机视觉任务的拟议学习规则的适用性。有趣的是，学习规则比STDP更好地适应输入信号的频率，并且不需要对超参数进行手动调整。