BrainChip awaits industry forum to showcase neuromorphic computing and Akida
The Akida Development Environment is a complete machine learning framework for the Akida Neuromorphic System-on-Chip.
Computing company BrainChip Holdings (ASX: BRN) says it is keen to showcase its novel “neuromorphic” computing solutions at the annual semiconductor design and software engineering forum multiprocessor system-on-chip (MPSoC), held in Snowbird, Utah, from 29 July to 3 August.
The MPSoC forum is an annual US-based “software-defined hardware event” focusing on profiling new software and hardware architectures, design technologies and semiconductor manufacturing innovation.
According to the company, the upcoming show provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate its products with BrainChip founder and CTO Peter van der Made, expected to be among the 60 world-class AI developers and researchers speaking at the event.
Thinking about neuromorphic computing
BrainChip develops accelerated artificial intelligence and machine-learning software and hardware.
As a commercial business, it wants to capitalise on the growing need for AI-powered solutions by commercialising “spiking neural networks”, a type of neuromorphic computing which simulates the functionality of the human brain.
BrainChip has confirmed Mr van der Made will provide in-depth insights into BrainChip’s energy-efficient and versatile spiking neural network (SNN) approach during his presentation at the forum in Utah next week.
“The Akida NSoC is the culmination of over a decade of development and is the first spiking neural network acceleration device for production environments,” said Peter van der Made.
Commonly referred to as neuromorphic computing, BrainChip’s high-performance SNN platform is a form of artificial neural network that emulates the functionality of the human brain’s synapses and neurons.
Unique to BrainChip’s SNN is the ability to learn rapidly from small data sets, and to continue learning “in the field”, making it applicable to many end-market applications including vision systems for civil surveillance, autonomous vehicles, robotics and drones, financial technology and cybersecurity.
As an example of its applications, BrainChip says its BrainChip Studio and BrainChip Accelerator products are two kick-off examples of video analytics solutions aiding law enforcement and intelligence organizations to rapidly search vast amounts of video footage for identifying objects or faces.
Over time, it is hoped that further tech development will deliver additional applications and innovative products required by both consumers and businesses.
BrainChip says that its revolutionary new spiking neural network technology “can learn autonomously, evolve and associate information just like the human brain,” with its products already addressing the high-performance requirements in civil surveillance, gaming, financial technology, cybersecurity, autonomous vehicles and other advanced vision systems.
Cutting the red ribbon on Akida
The upcoming tech show in Utah serves as a prominent platform for BrainChip to unveil its latest development: the Akida Development Environment – first unveiled earlier this week.
Akida gets its name from the Greek word for “spike” (ακίδα) and represents BrainChip’s flagship product as part of a broader mission to become the leading neuromorphic computing company that is able to solve complex problems, to make worldwide industry more productive, and to “improve the human condition”, the company said.
The Akida Development Environment is a machine learning framework for the creation, training, and testing of SNNs, supporting the development of systems for edge and enterprise products on the BrainChip’s Akida Neuromorphic System-on-Chip (NSoC).
Despite the early stage nature of its overarching development plan, applications developed through Akida could serve public safety, transportation, agricultural productivity, financial security, cybersecurity and health care.
Some analyst estimates have estimated these significant growth markets have combined to create a US$4.5 billion opportunity by 2025.
“This development environment is the first phase in the commercialization of neuromorphic computing based on BrainChip’s ground-breaking Akida neuron design,” said Mr Bob Beachler, senior vice president of marketing and business Development at BrainChip.
“It provides everything a user needs to develop, train, and run inference for spiking neural networks. Akida is targeted at high growth markets that provide a multibillion-dollar opportunity and we are already engaged with leading companies in major market segments,” said Mr Beachler.