Federated learning using a memristor compute-in-memory chip with in situ physical unclonable function and true random number generator

Federated learning provides a framework for multiple participants to collectively train a neural network while maintaining data privacy, and is commonly achieved through homomorphic encryption. However, implementation of this approach at a local edge requires key generation, error polynomial generation and extensive computation, resulting in substantial time and energy consumption. Here, we report a memristor compute-in-memory chip architecture with an in situ physical unclonable function for key generation and an in situ true random number generator for error polynomial generation. Our architecture—which includes a competing-forming array operation method, a compute-in-memory based entropy extraction circuit design and a redundant residue number system-based encoding scheme—allows low error-rate computation, the physical unclonable function and the true random number generator to be implemented within the same memristor array and peripheral circuits. To illustrate the functionality of this memristor-based federated learning, we conduct a case study in which four participants cotrain a two-layered long short-term memory network with 482 weights for sepsis prediction. The test accuracy on the 128-kb memristor array is only 0.12% lower than that achieved with software centralized learning. Our approach also exhibits reduced energy and time consumption compared with conventional digital federated learning.