Neural Network Accelerator

Neural network accelerators are specialized hardware designed to significantly speed up and reduce the energy consumption of deep learning computations, moving processing from cloud servers to resource-constrained edge devices. Current research emphasizes efficient memory hierarchies, novel arithmetic techniques (like digit-serial processing and power-of-two quantization), and algorithm-hardware co-design to optimize performance for various model architectures, including convolutional neural networks, transformers, and spiking neural networks. These advancements are crucial for enabling real-time AI applications in areas like embedded systems, mobile devices, and safety-critical systems, where low power and high speed are paramount.