title: Concurrent heterogeneous neural model simulation on real-time neuromimetic hardware.
abstract: Dedicated hardware is becoming increasingly essential to simulate emerging very-large-scale neural models. Equally, however, it needs to be able to support multiple models of the neural dynamics, possibly operating simultaneously within the same system. This may be necessary either to simulate large models with heterogeneous neural types, or to simplify simulation and analysis of detailed, complex models in a large simulation by isolating the new model to a small subpopulation of a larger overall network. The SpiNNaker neuromimetic chip is a dedicated neural processor able to support such heterogeneous simulations. Implementing these models on-chip uses an integrated library-based tool chain incorporating the emerging PyNN interface that allows a modeller to input a high-level description and use an automated process to generate an on-chip simulation. Simulations using both LIF and Izhikevich models demonstrate the ability of the SpiNNaker system to generate and simulate heterogeneous networks on-chip, while illustrating, through the network-scale effects of wavefront synchronisation and burst gating, methods that can provide effective behavioural abstractions for large-scale hardware modelling. SpiNNaker's asynchronous virtual architecture permits greater scope for model exploration, with scalable levels of functional and temporal abstraction, than conventional (or neuromorphic) computing platforms. The complete system illustrates a potential path to understanding the neural model of computation, by building (and breaking) neural models at various scales, connecting the blocks, then comparing them against the biology: computational cognitive neuroscience.
authors.affiliation: School of Computer Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK. rasta@cs.man.ac.uk
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rast
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Galluppi
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Plana
authors.forename: Cameron
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lester
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furber
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003199:Computer Systems; D003201:Computers; D008959:Models, Neurological; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D013997:Time Factors; D014584:User-Computer Interface