The SpiNNaker Project

Author

Furber, Steve B. ; Galluppi, Francesco ; Temple, Steve ; Plana, Luis A.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Comput. Sci., Univ. of Manchester, Manchester, UK

Volume

102

Issue

5

fYear

2014

fDate

May-14

Firstpage

652

Lastpage

665

Abstract

The spiking neural network architecture (SpiNNaker) project aims to deliver a massively parallel million-core computer whose interconnect architecture is inspired by the connectivity characteristics of the mammalian brain, and which is suited to the modeling of large-scale spiking neural networks in biological real time. Specifically, the interconnect allows the transmission of a very large number of very small data packets, each conveying explicitly the source, and implicitly the time, of a single neural action potential or “spike.” In this paper, we review the current state of the project, which has already delivered systems with up to 2500 processors, and present the real-time event-driven programming model that supports flexible access to the resources of the machine and has enabled its use by a wide range of collaborators around the world.

Keywords

multiprocessing systems; neural net architecture; parallel processing; real-time systems; SpiNNaker project; data packets; interconnect architecture; mammalian brain; parallel million-core computer; real-time event-driven programming model; spiking neural network architecture; Brain modeling; Computational modeling; Computer architecture; Multitasking; Neural networks; Neuroscience; Parallel programming; Program processors; Brain modeling; multicast algorithms; multiprocessor interconnection networks; neural network hardware; parallel programming;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Proceedings of the IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9219

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPROC.2014.2304638

Filename

6750072