TOPS-speed complex-valued convolutional accelerator for feature extraction and inference

Abstract Complex-valued neural networks process both amplitude and phase information, in contrast to conventional artificial neural networks, achieving additive capabilities in recognizing phase-sensitive data inherent in wave-related phenomena. The ever-increasing data capacity and network scale pl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yunping Bai, Yifu Xu, Shifan Chen, Xiaotian Zhu, Shuai Wang, Sirui Huang, Yuhang Song, Yixuan Zheng, Zhihui Liu, Sim Tan, Roberto Morandotti, Sai T. Chu, Brent E. Little, David J. Moss, Xingyuan Xu, Kun Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-01-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55321-8
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Complex-valued neural networks process both amplitude and phase information, in contrast to conventional artificial neural networks, achieving additive capabilities in recognizing phase-sensitive data inherent in wave-related phenomena. The ever-increasing data capacity and network scale place substantial demands on underlying computing hardware. In parallel with the successes and extensive efforts made in electronics, optical neuromorphic hardware is promising to achieve ultra-high computing performances due to its inherent analog architecture and wide bandwidth. Here, we report a complex-valued optical convolution accelerator operating at over 2 Tera operations per second (TOPS). With appropriately designed phasors we demonstrate its performance in the recognition of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images captured by the Sentinel-1 satellite, which are inherently complex-valued and more intricate than what optical neural networks have previously processed. Experimental tests with 500 images yield an 83.8% accuracy, close to in-silico results. This approach facilitates feature extraction of phase-sensitive information, and represents a pivotal advance in artificial intelligence towards real-time, high-dimensional data analysis of complex and dynamic environments.
ISSN:2041-1723