The Mod 2 Neurocomputer system design

The Mod 2 Neurocomputer, the latest in a series of neurocomputing systems at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, is a neural network processing system incorporating individual neural networks as subsystems in a layered hierarchical architecture. The Mod 2 is designed to support parallel processing of image data at sensor (real-time) rates. Basic concepts implemented in the Mod 2 are (1) maintaining data representations as frames of data processed as a whole at each layer, (2) a general interconnect design supporting data transfer requirements such as generation of parallel pathways, fan-up/fan-down, and feedforward and feedback, and (3) a neuroprocessing block supporting several neural network paradigms. The basis for the system implementation is the Intel 80170NX neural network processor. Examples are given for the implementation strategy for neural substructures such as the multilayer perceptron and temporal and spatiotemporal image processing, as well as the implementation of a multifunction processing system