NeuroFlow: A General Purpose Spiking Neural Network Simulation Platform using Customizable Processors
File(s)
Accepted version
Published version
Author(s)
Cheung, K
Schultz, SR
Luk, W
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
NeuroFlow is a scalable spiking neural network simulation platform for off-the-shelf high performance computing systems using customizable hardware processors such as Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Unlike multi-core processors and application-specific integrated circuits, the processor architecture of NeuroFlow can be redesigned and reconfigured to suit a particular simulation to deliver optimized performance, such as the degree of parallelism to employ. The compilation process supports using PyNN, a simulator-independent neural network description language, to configure the processor. NeuroFlow supports a number of commonly used current or conductance based neuronal models such as integrate-and-fire and Izhikevich models, and the spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) rule for learning. A 6-FPGA system can simulate a network of up to ~600,000 neurons and can achieve a real-time performance of 400,000 neurons. Using one FPGA, NeuroFlow delivers a speedup of up to 33.6 times the speed of an 8-core processor, or 2.83 times the speed of GPU-based platforms. With high flexibility and throughput, NeuroFlow provides a viable environment for large-scale neural network simulation.
Date Issued
2016-01-14
Date Acceptance
2015-12-22
Citation
Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2016, 9
ISSN
1662-4548
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Journal / Book Title
Frontiers in Neuroscience
Volume
9
Copyright Statement
© 2016 Cheung, Schultz and Luk. This is an open-access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use,
distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original
author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal
is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or
reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use,
distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original
author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal
is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or
reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
License URL
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E
Commission of the European Communities
Commission of the European Communities
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
Commission of the European Communities
Grant Number
EP/I012036/1
PO 1553380
FP7 - 318521
289146
BB/L018268/1
671653
Subjects
1109 Neurosciences
1702 Cognitive Science
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
516