用线性衰减替代指数衰减,提升脉冲神经网络硬件效率
SRAM-Based Compute-in-Memory Accelerator for Linear-decay Spiking Neural Networks
- 算法层面:用线性衰减近似替代指数衰减,将乘法转为加法
- 硬件层面:在SRAM阵列内并行完成膜电位更新,消除串行瓶颈
- 实测节能16.7倍,能效提升69倍,精度损失仅约1%
脉冲神经网络(SNNs)作为类脑计算的新范式,具备事件驱动与低功耗优势。然而其吞吐受限于神经元膜电位的串行更新。现有硬件加速器虽可高效并行化突触运算(W x I),实现矩阵-向量乘法的O(1)复杂度,但后续状态更新仍需O(N)时间刷新全部膜电位,成为主要延迟与能耗瓶颈。为此,本文提出基于SRAM的计算内存架构,支持线性衰减漏积分放神经元(LD-LIF)。算法上,以线性衰减近似取代传统指数衰减,将高成本乘法转化为简单加法,精度仅下降约1%;硬件上,设计片内并行更新机制,在SRAM阵列中直接执行就地衰减,无需全局串行操作。在基准测试负载上,该方法实现1.1×至16.7×的每操作能量(SOP)降低,能效提升15.9×至69×,相较原始模型精度损失可忽略。结果表明,在计算内存架构中优化状态更新动态,对实现可扩展、低功耗、实时类脑处理至关重要。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) have emerged as a biologically inspired alternative to conventional deep networks, offering event-driven and energy-efficient computation. However, their throughput remains constrained by the serial update of neuron membrane states. While many hardware accelerators and Compute-in-Memory (CIM) architectures efficiently parallelize the synaptic operation (W x I) achieving O(1) complexity for matrix-vector multiplication, the subsequent state update step still requires O(N) time to refresh all neuron membrane potentials. This mismatch makes state update the dominant latency and energy bottleneck in SNN inference. To address this challenge, we propose an SRAM-based CIM for SNN with Linear Decay Leaky Integrate-and-Fire (LD-LIF) Neuron that co-optimizes algorithm and hardware. At the algorithmic level, we replace the conventional exponential membrane decay with a linear decay approximation, converting costly multiplications into simple additions while accuracy drops only around 1%. At the architectural level, we introduce an in-memory parallel update scheme that performs in-place decay directly within the SRAM array, eliminating the need for global sequential updates. Evaluated on benchmark SNN workloads, the proposed method achieves a 1.1 x to 16.7 x reduction of SOP energy consumption, while providing 15.9 x to 69 x more energy efficiency, with negligible accuracy loss relative to original decay models. This work highlights that beyond accelerating the (W x I) computation, optimizing state-update dynamics within CIM architectures is essential for scalable, low-power, and real-time neuromorphic processing.
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