IBM and U.S. Air Force building brain-inspired AI supercomputing system

brain-inspired AI supercomputing system

IBM and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) teaming up to build the world’s first brain-inspired AI supercomputing system powered by a 64-chip array of the IBM TrueNorth Neurosynaptic System.

IBM is building for AFRL will feature an end-to-end software ecosystem designed to enable deep neural-network learning and information discovery. This 64-chip array will contain the processing power will be the equivalent of 64 million neurons and 16 billion synapses. While, the processor component consume 10watts of electricity.

This system will be put to use in pattern recognition and sensory processing roles. AFRL investigating applications of the system in embedded, mobile, autonomous settings where limitations exist on the size, weight and power of platforms.

TrueNorth Neurosynaptic System

The IBM TrueNorth Neurosynaptic System can efficiently convert multiple data fields, such as images, video, audio and text.

AFRL seek to combine "right-brain" function with "left-brain" symbol processing capabilities in conventional computer systems. The goal is to enable multiple data sources to run parallel against the same neural network and help independent neural networks form an ensemble to also run in parallel on the same data.

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AFRL was the earliest adopter of TrueNorth for converting data into decisions, said, Daniel S. Goddard from U.S. Air Force Research Lab. The new neurosynaptic system enables computing capabilities important to AFRL"s mission to explore prototype and demonstrate high-impact, game-changing technologies that enable the Air Force.

The evolution of the IBM TrueNorth Neurosynaptic System is a solid proof point in our quest to lead the industry in AI hardware innovation, said, Dharmendra S. Modha from IBM. Since, IBM working on the project, it has been able to increase the number of neurons per system from 256 to 64 million.

A single processor in system consists of 5.4 billion transistors organized into 4,096 neural cores. Creating an array of 1 million digital neurons that communicate with one another via 256 million electrical synapses.

The TrueNorth project began as the DARPA SyNAPSE project back in mid-2008.