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Spinbis: Spintronics Based Bayesian Inference System with Stochastic Computing (arxiv.org)
2 points by godelmachine on Feb 20, 2019 | hide | past | pdf | discuss on HN

In plain words: Tiny magnetic memory bits that flip at random supply the random number streams Bayesian probability calculations need, and a switch network lets many calculations share one source. On data-fusion tasks it used about 12 times less energy than a magnetic-memory design.

Abstract · SPINBIS: Spintronics based Bayesian Inference System with Stochastic Computing

Bayesian inference is an effective approach for solving statistical learning problems, especially with uncertainty and incompleteness. However, Bayesian inference is a computing-intensive task whose efficiency is physically limited by the bottlenecks of conventional computing platforms. In this work, a spintronics based stochastic computing approach is proposed for efficient Bayesian inference. The inherent stochastic switching behaviors of spintronic devices are exploited to build stochastic bitstream generator (SBG) for stochastic computing with hybrid CMOS/MTJ circuits design. Aiming to improve the inference efficiency, an SBG sharing strategy is leveraged to reduce the required SBG array scale by integrating a switch network between SBG array and stochastic computing logic. A device-to-architecture level framework is proposed to evaluate the performance of spintronics based Bayesian inference system (SPINBIS). Experimental results on data fusion applications have shown that SPINBIS could improve the energy efficiency about 12X than MTJ-based approach with 45% design area overhead and about 26X than FPGA-based approach.

Xiaotao Jia, Jianlei Yang, Pengcheng Dai, Runze Liu, Yiran Chen, Weisheng Zhao
arXiv:1902.06886 · cs.ET, cs.AR · submitted Feb 19, 2019
abstract · pdf · html · 14 pages, 26 figures, accepted by IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems

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