An aVLSI recurrent network of spiking neurons with reconfigurable and plastic synapses

Abstract

We illustrate key features of an analog, VLSI (aVLSI) chip implementing a network composed of 32 integrate-and-fire (IF) neurons with firing rate adaptation (AHP current), endowed with both a recurrent synaptic connectivity and AER-based connectivity with external, AER-compliant devices. Synaptic connectivity can be reconfigured at will as for the presence/absence of each synaptic contact and the excitatory/inhibitory nature of each synapse. Excitatory synapses are plastic through a spike-driven stochastic, Hebbian mechanism, and possess a self-limiting mechanism aiming at an optimal use of synaptic resources for Hebbian learning