Optically Connected Multiprocessors For Simulating Artificial Neural Networks
Joydeep Ghosh, Kai Hwang · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1988
This paper investigates the architectural requirements in simulating large neural networks using a highly parallel multiprocessor with distributed memory and optical interconnects. First, we model the structure of a neural network and the functional behavior of individual cells. These models are used to estimate the volume of messages that need to be exchanged among physical processors to simulate the weighted connections of the neural network. The distributed processor/memory organization is tailored to an electronic implementation for greater versatility and flexibility. Optical interconnects are used to satisfy the interprocessor communication bandwidth demands. The hybrid implementation attempts to balance the processing, memory and bandwidth demands in simulating asynchronous, value-passing models for cooperative parallel computation with self-learning capabilities.