SPINBIS: Spintronics-based Bayesian inference system with stochastic computing

X Jia, J Yang, P Dai, R Liu, Y Chen… - IEEE Transactions on …, 2019 - ieeexplore.ieee.org
IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits …, 2019ieeexplore.ieee.org
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 paper, a spintronics-based stochastic computing
(SC) approach is proposed for efficient Bayesian inference. The inherent stochastic
switching behaviors of spintronic devices are exploited to build a stochastic bitstream …
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 paper, a spintronics-based stochastic computing (SC) approach is proposed for efficient Bayesian inference. The inherent stochastic switching behaviors of spintronic devices are exploited to build a stochastic bitstream generator (SBG) for SC with hybrid CMOS/magnetic tunnel junction (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 SC 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 12× than MTJ-based approach with 45% design area overhead and about 26× than FPGA-based approach.
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