Population-based connectivity architecture for spiking neural networks

Abstract

An electronic neuromorphic core processor circuit and related method include a dendrite circuit comprising an input that receives an input spike message having an associated input identifier that identifies a distribution set of dendrite compartments. A synapse map provides a mapping of the received identifier to a synapse configuration in the memory. A synapse configuration circuit associates the identifier with a set of synaptic connections, possibly shared hierarchically over populations of neurons defined implicitly by the mapping structures, that are read from the memory. The synaptic connections determine n-tuple information comprising a dendrite ID, a weight, and a network delay time. A dendrite accumulator circuit accumulates weight values scheduled at the appropriate future time as identified by the n-tuple information and maps them to a soma compartment. A soma circuit maintains a soma compartment state in response to the accumulated weight values scheduled for servicing and, when sufficiently activated, produces output spikes.