In this article, we propose to design a new modular architecture for a self-organizing map (SOM) neural network. The proposed approach, called systolic-SOM (SSOM), is based on the use of a generic model inspired by a systolic movement. This model is formed by two levels of nested parallelism of neurons and connections. Thus, this solution provides a distributed set of independent computations between the processing units called neuroprocessors (NPs) which define the SSOM architecture. The NP modules have an innovative architecture compared to those proposed in the literature. Indeed, each NP performs three different tasks without requiring additional external modules. To validate our approach, we evaluate the performance of several SOM network architectures after their integration on an FPGA support. This architecture has achieved a performance almost twice as fast as that obtained in the recent literature.
In this paper, we present a new generic architectural approach of a Self-Organizing Map (SOM). The proposed architecture, called the Diagonal-SOM (D-SOM), is described as an Hardware–Description-Language as an intellectual property kernel with easily adjustable parameters.The D-SOM architecture is based on a generic formalism that exploits two levels of the nested parallelism of neurons and connections. This solution is therefore considered as a system based on the cooperation of a distributed set of independent computations. The organization and structure of these calculations process an oriented data flow in order to find a better treatment distribution between different neuroprocessors. To validate the D-SOM architecture, we evaluate the performance of several SOM network architectures after their integration on a Xilinx Virtex-7 Field Programmable Gate Array support. The proposed solution allows the easy adaptation of learning to a large number of SOM topologies without any considerable design effort. [Formula: see text] SOM hardware is validated through FPGA implementation, where temporal performance is almost twice as fast as that obtained in the recent literature. The suggested D-SOM architecture is also validated through simulation on variable-sized SOM networks applied to color vector quantization.
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