Stable recurrent dynamics in heterogeneous neuromorphic computing systems using excitatory and inhibitory plasticity

Abstract

Many neural computations emerge from self-sustained patterns of activity in recurrent neural circuits, which rely on balanced excitation and inhibition. Neuromorphic electronic circuits represent a promising approach for implementing the brain’s computational primitives. However, achieving the same robustness of biological networks in neuromorphic systems remains a challenge due to the variability in their analog components. Inspired by real cortical networks, we apply a biologically-plausible cross-homeostatic rule to balance neuromorphic implementations of spiking recurrent networks. We demonstrate how this rule can autonomously tune the network to produce robust, self-sustained dynamics in an inhibition-stabilized regime, even in presence of device mismatch. It can implement multiple, co-existing stable memories, with emergent soft-winner-take-all and reproduce the “paradoxical effect” observed in cortical circuits. In addition to validating neuroscience models on a substrate sharing many similar limitations with biological systems, this enables the automatic configuration of ultra-low power, mixed-signal neuromorphic technologies despite the large chip-to-chip variability.