FPGA prototype of machine learning analog-to-feature converter for event-based succinct representation of signals

Sparse signal models with learned dictionaries of morphological features provide efficient codes in a variety of applications. Such models can be useful to reduce sensor data rates and simplify the communication, processing and analysis of information, provided that the algorithm can be realized in an efficient way and that the signal allows for sparse coding. In this paper we outline an FPGA prototype of a general purpose “analog-to-feature converter”, which learns an over-complete dictionary of features from the input signal using matching pursuit and a form of Hebbian learning. The resulting code is sparse, event-based and suitable for analysis with parallel and neuromorphic processors. We present results of two case studies. The first case is a blind source separation problem where features are learned from an artificial signal with known features. We demonstrate that the learned features are qualitatively consistent with the true features. In the second case, features are learned from ball-bearing vibration data. We find that vibration signals from bearings with faults have characteristic features and codes, and that the event-based code enable a reduction of the data rate by at least one order of magnitude.