Low Power Computing and Simultaneous Electro-Optical/Radar Data Processing using IBM’s NS16e 16-chip Neuromorphic Hardware

For the first time ever, advanced machine learning (ML) compute architectures, techniques, and methods were demonstrated on United States Geological Survey (USGS) optical imagery and Department of Defense (DoD) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, simultaneously, using IBM’s new NS16e neurosynaptic processor board comprised of 16 TrueNorth chips. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information Directorate Advanced Computing and Communications Division continues to develop and demonstrate new bio-inspired computing algorithms and architectures, designed to provide advanced, ultra-low power, ground and airborne High-Performance Computing (HPC) solutions to meet operational and tactical, real-time processing needs for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions on small form factor hardware, and in Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) constrained environments. With an average throughput of 16,000 inferences per second, the system provided a processing efficiency of 1,066 inferences per Watt. The NS16e power utilization never exceeded 15 Watts for this application. The contribution of power consumption from TrueNorth processors was bound to less than 5.5 Watts.