Circuit design criteria for stable lateral inhibition neural networks

The authors report a design approach that guarantees that lateral inhibition neural networks will be stable, even though the values of designed elements in the resistive grid may be imprecise and the location and values of parasitic elements may be unknown. The method is based on a rigorous, somewhat novel mathematical analysis using Tellegen´s theorem and the idea of Popov multipliers from control theory. It is thoroughly practical because the criteria are local in the sense that no overall analysis of the interconnected system is required, empirical in the sense that they involve only measurable frequency response data on the individual cells, and robust in the sense that unmodeled parasitic resistances and capacitances in the interconnect network cannot affect the analysis.<>