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.

尖峰神经网络（SNN）是大脑中低功率，耐断层的信息处理的基础，并且在适当的神经形态硬件加速器上实施时，可能构成传统深层神经网络的能力替代品。但是，实例化解决复杂的计算任务的SNN在Silico中仍然是一个重大挑战。替代梯度（SG）技术已成为培训SNN端到端的标准解决方案。尽管如此，它们的成功取决于突触重量初始化，类似于常规的人工神经网络（ANN）。然而，与ANN不同，它仍然难以捉摸地构成SNN的良好初始状态。在这里，我们为受到大脑中通常观察到的波动驱动的策略启发的SNN制定了一般初始化策略。具体而言，我们为数据依赖性权重初始化提供了实用的解决方案，以确保广泛使用的泄漏的集成和传火（LIF）神经元的波动驱动。我们从经验上表明，经过SGS培训时，SNN遵循我们的策略表现出卓越的学习表现。这些发现概括了几个数据集和SNN体系结构，包括完全连接，深度卷积，经常性和更具生物学上合理的SNN遵守Dale的定律。因此，波动驱动的初始化提供了一种实用，多功能且易于实现的策略，可改善神经形态工程和计算神经科学的不同任务的SNN培训绩效。

我们最近提出了S4NN算法，基本上是对多层尖峰神经网络的反向化的适应，该网上网络使用简单的非泄漏整合和火神经元和一种形式称为第一峰值编码的时间编码。通过这种编码方案，每次刺激最多一次都是神经元火灾，但射击令携带信息。这里，我们引入BS4NN，S4NN的修改，其中突触权重被约束为二进制（+1或-1），以便减少存储器（理想情况下，每个突触的一个比特）和计算占地面积。这是使用两组权重完成：首先，通过梯度下降更新的实际重量，并在BackProjagation的后退通行证中使用，其次是在前向传递中使用的迹象。类似的策略已被用于培训（非尖峰）二值化神经网络。主要区别在于BS4NN在时域中操作：尖峰依次繁殖，并且不同的神经元可以在不同时间达到它们的阈值，这增加了计算能力。我们验证了两个流行的基准，Mnist和Fashion-Mnist上的BS4NN，并获得了这种网络的合理精度（分别为97.0％和87.3％），具有可忽略的准确率，具有可忽略的重量率（0.4％和0.7％，分别）。我们还展示了BS4NN优于具有相同架构的简单BNN，在这两个数据集上（分别为0.2％和0.9％），可能是因为它利用时间尺寸。建议的BS4NN的源代码在HTTPS://github.com/srkh/bs4nn上公开可用。

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.

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.

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。

过去十年来，人们对人工智能（AI）的兴趣激增几乎完全由人工神经网络（ANN）的进步驱动。尽管ANN为许多以前棘手的问题设定了最先进的绩效，但它们需要大量的数据和计算资源进行培训，并且由于他们采用了监督的学习，他们通常需要知道每个培训示例的正确标记的响应，并限制它们对现实世界域的可扩展性。尖峰神经网络（SNN）是使用更多类似脑部神经元的ANN的替代方法，可以使用无监督的学习来发现输入数据中的可识别功能，而又不知道正确的响应。但是，SNN在动态稳定性方面挣扎，无法匹配ANN的准确性。在这里，我们展示了SNN如何克服文献中发现的许多缺点，包括为消失的尖峰问题提供原则性解决方案，以优于所有现有的浅SNN，并等于ANN的性能。它在使用无标记的数据和仅1/50的训练时期使用无监督的学习时完成了这一点（标记数据仅用于最终的简单线性读数层）。该结果使SNN成为可行的新方法，用于使用未标记的数据集快速，准确，有效，可解释的机器学习。

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。

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.

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。

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。

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。

为了在专门的神经形态硬件中进行节能计算，我们提出了尖峰神经编码，这是基于预测性编码理论的人工神经模型家族的实例化。该模型是同类模型，它是通过在“猜测和检查”的永无止境过程中运行的，神经元可以预测彼此的活动值，然后调整自己的活动以做出更好的未来预测。我们系统的互动性，迭代性质非常适合感官流预测的连续时间表述，并且如我们所示，模型的结构产生了局部突触更新规则，可以用来补充或作为在线峰值定位的替代方案依赖的可塑性。在本文中，我们对模型的实例化进行了实例化，该模型包括泄漏的集成和火灾单元。但是，我们系统所在的框架自然可以结合更复杂的神经元，例如Hodgkin-Huxley模型。我们在模式识别方面的实验结果证明了当二进制尖峰列车是通信间通信的主要范式时，模型的潜力。值得注意的是，尖峰神经编码在分类绩效方面具有竞争力，并且在从任务序列中学习时会降低遗忘，从而提供了更经济的，具有生物学上的替代品，可用于流行的人工神经网络。

复发性神经网络（RNN）的可伸缩性受到每个时间步骤计算对先前时间步长输出的顺序依赖性的阻碍。因此，加快和扩展RNN的一种方法是减少每个时间步长所需的计算，而不是模型大小和任务。在本文中，我们提出了一个模型，该模型将封闭式复发单元（GRU）作为基于事件的活动模型，我们称为基于事件的GRU（EGRU），其中仅在收到输入事件（事件 - 基于其他单位。当与一次活跃的单位仅一小部分（活动 - 帕斯斯）相结合时，该模型具有比当前RNN的计算更高效的潜力。值得注意的是，我们模型中的活动 - 表格性也转化为梯度下降期间稀疏参数更新，从而将此计算效率扩展到训练阶段。我们表明，与现实世界中最新的经常性网络模型相比，EGRU表现出竞争性能，包括语言建模，同时在推理和培训期间自然保持高活动稀疏性。这为下一代重复网络奠定了基础，这些网络可扩展，更适合新型神经形态硬件。

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).

Deep spiking neural networks (SNNs) offer the promise of low-power artificial intelligence. However, training deep SNNs from scratch or converting deep artificial neural networks to SNNs without loss of performance has been a challenge. Here we propose an exact mapping from a network with Rectified Linear Units (ReLUs) to an SNN that fires exactly one spike per neuron. For our constructive proof, we assume that an arbitrary multi-layer ReLU network with or without convolutional layers, batch normalization and max pooling layers was trained to high performance on some training set. Furthermore, we assume that we have access to a representative example of input data used during training and to the exact parameters (weights and biases) of the trained ReLU network. The mapping from deep ReLU networks to SNNs causes zero percent drop in accuracy on CIFAR10, CIFAR100 and the ImageNet-like data sets Places365 and PASS. More generally our work shows that an arbitrary deep ReLU network can be replaced by an energy-efficient single-spike neural network without any loss of performance.

Models of sensory processing and learning in the cortex need to efficiently assign credit to synapses in all areas. In deep learning, a known solution is error backpropagation, which however requires biologically implausible weight transport from feed-forward to feedback paths. We introduce Phaseless Alignment Learning (PAL), a bio-plausible method to learn efficient feedback weights in layered cortical hierarchies. This is achieved by exploiting the noise naturally found in biophysical systems as an additional carrier of information. In our dynamical system, all weights are learned simultaneously with always-on plasticity and using only information locally available to the synapses. Our method is completely phase-free (no forward and backward passes or phased learning) and allows for efficient error propagation across multi-layer cortical hierarchies, while maintaining biologically plausible signal transport and learning. Our method is applicable to a wide class of models and improves on previously known biologically plausible ways of credit assignment: compared to random synaptic feedback, it can solve complex tasks with less neurons and learn more useful latent representations. We demonstrate this on various classification tasks using a cortical microcircuit model with prospective coding.

We propose that in order to harness our understanding of neuroscience toward machine learning, we must first have powerful tools for training brain-like models of learning. Although substantial progress has been made toward understanding the dynamics of learning in the brain, neuroscience-derived models of learning have yet to demonstrate the same performance capabilities as methods in deep learning such as gradient descent. Inspired by the successes of machine learning using gradient descent, we demonstrate that models of neuromodulated synaptic plasticity from neuroscience can be trained in Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) with a framework of learning to learn through gradient descent to address challenging online learning problems. This framework opens a new path toward developing neuroscience inspired online learning algorithms.

Understanding how biological neural networks carry out learning using spike-based local plasticity mechanisms can lead to the development of powerful, energy-efficient, and adaptive neuromorphic processing systems. A large number of spike-based learning models have recently been proposed following different approaches. However, it is difficult to assess if and how they could be mapped onto neuromorphic hardware, and to compare their features and ease of implementation. To this end, in this survey, we provide a comprehensive overview of representative brain-inspired synaptic plasticity models and mixed-signal CMOS neuromorphic circuits within a unified framework. We review historical, bottom-up, and top-down approaches to modeling synaptic plasticity, and we identify computational primitives that can support low-latency and low-power hardware implementations of spike-based learning rules. We provide a common definition of a locality principle based on pre- and post-synaptic neuron information, which we propose as a fundamental requirement for physical implementations of synaptic plasticity. Based on this principle, we compare the properties of these models within the same framework, and describe the mixed-signal electronic circuits that implement their computing primitives, pointing out how these building blocks enable efficient on-chip and online learning in neuromorphic processing systems.

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.