Search

In this paper, the sensitivity of the neural network (NN) outputs to device parameter uncertainties (non-idealities) in inverter-based memristor (IM) crossbar neuromorphic circuits is mathematically modeled and verified using exhaustive circuit and system-level simulations. The NN sensitivity is obtained by modeling the sensitivity of the IM neuron output to the non-idealities of its circuit elements. The analysis reveals a higher sensitivity of the output voltage of the IM neuron to the non-idealities of the inverters compared to the conductance variation of the memristors. Among the inverter non-idealities, horizontal shift of the inverters voltage transfer characteristic (VTC) shows the highest impact on the output voltage of the neuron. To reduce the accuracy loss due to the variations, a training approach which includes a sensitivity term in the cost function of the training phase, is suggested. The achievable improvements through the said NN training approach are evaluated. In the evaluation, the California Housing, MNIST, and Fashion MNIST datasets are employed. The results show up to 50% reduction in the NN output variations in the presence of circuit elements’ non-idealities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the LCD technology used by manufacturers in the electronic paper (e-paper) display. It states that today's e-paper has readability, low power and liquid crystal display (LCDs) have brilliant colors as well as full video motion. Moreover, the multimode display from Pixel Qi, in San Bruno, California, has taken a brute-force approach, which combines reflective and transmissive liquid crystal technologies.

The eleven papers in this special section were presented at the Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, held in San Jose, CA, in September 2011. The papers are grouped into three broad areas?analog,digital/memory, and RF circuits. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The papers in this special section consists of expanded versions of six papers presented at the Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC), held in San Jose, CA, USA, in September 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper is all about the restoration of vintage IBM 1401 computer for the computer history museum, in Mountain View, Calif. The 1401 processed numbers in decimal rather than binary form and accepted numbers of varying digit spans. Companies leased it for US $6500 a month, equivalent to $45 000 today, a bargain for an all-transistor design with stored programs. Such features had been offered only in huge systems costing about six times as much. The museum got an even better bargain in 2003, when five enthusiasts gave it an old 1401 they'd bought on the German eBay site for a mere $18000, then about $21000. In part, the low price reflects the water damage that occurred during storage in Hamburg, damage the rehabbers took some 10000 man-hours to repair, typically with old parts. The selling price also reflects the old-tech fervor of the seller, a German engineer who'd bought the machine for his own use in 1972, when IBM stopped supporting the model, and couldn't bear to scrap it when its working life was done. And of course, there's the effect of Moore's Law: The 1401 system, all 4 tons of it, has about one-millionth the computing power of your $600 desktop PC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on the 2009 Fortune Brainstorm Tech meeting on July 2009 in Pasadena, California. The meeting featured many magnates from marketing, advertising, and entertainment industry. The former U.S. presidential candidate, Howard Dean was the speaker at the meeting while, the inventor Ray Kurzweil delivered his paper regarding the exponential advancement and impact of semiconductor technologies.