Neuromorphic Intermediate Representation: A Unified Instruction Set for Interoperable Brain-Inspired Computing

Spiking neural networks and neuromorphic hardware platforms that emulate neural dynamics are slowly gaining momentum and entering main-stream usage. Despite a well-established mathematical foundation for neural dynamics, the implementation details vary greatly across different platforms. Correspondingly, there are a plethora of software and hardware implementations with their own unique technology stacks. Consequently, neuromorphic systems typically diverge from the expected computational model, which challenges the reproducibility and reliability across platforms. Additionally, most neuromorphic hardware is limited by its access via a single software frameworks with a limited set of training procedures. Here, we establish a common reference-frame for computations in neuromorphic systems, dubbed the Neuromorphic Intermediate Representation (NIR). NIR defines a set of computational primitives as idealized continuous-time hybrid systems that can be composed into graphs and mapped to and from various neuromorphic technology stacks. By abstracting away assumptions around discretization and hardware constraints, NIR faithfully captures the fundamental computation, while simultaneously exposing the exact differences between the evaluated implementation and the idealized mathematical formalism. We reproduce three NIR graphs across 7 neuromorphic simulators and 4 hardware platforms, demonstrating support for an unprecedented number of neuromorphic systems. With NIR, we decouple the evolution of neuromorphic hardware and software, ultimately increasing the interoperability between platforms and improving accessibility to neuromorphic technologies. We believe that NIR is an important step towards the continued study of brain-inspired hardware and bottom-up approaches aimed at an improved understanding of the computational underpinnings of nervous systems.

Energy Estimates Across Layers of Computing: From Devices to Large-Scale Applications in Machine Learning for Natural Language Processing, Scientific Computing, and Cryptocurrency Mining

Estimates of energy usage in layers of computing from devices to algorithms have been determined and analyzed. Building on the previous analysis [3], energy needed from single devices and systems including three large-scale computing applications such as Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning for Natural Language Processing, Scientific Simulations, and Cryptocurrency Mining have been estimated. In contrast to the bit-level switching, in which transistors achieved energy efficiency due to geometrical scaling, higher energy is expended both at the at the instructions and simulations levels of an application. Additionally, the analysis based on AI/ML Accelerators indicate that changes in architectures using an older semiconductor technology node have comparable energy efficiency with a different architecture using a newer technology. Further comparisons of the energy in computing systems with the thermodynamic and biological limits, indicate that there is a 27-36 orders of magnitude higher energy requirements for total simulation of an application. These energy estimates underscore the need for serious considerations of energy efficiency in computing by including energy as a design parameter, enabling growing needs of compute-intensive applications in a digital world.