The GWDG will soon be one of the first institutions in Germany to make the first test and development board for the neuromorphic computing platform SpiNNaker2 available to many researchers in preparation for the installation of a larger system at the end of 2024. This hardware is ideal for neuromorphic simulations of large networks of spiking neurons that resemble real biological systems of neuron cells. Thanks to the number of ARM cores that can be made available in-hardware and their tightly-coupled connectivity, such neuron networks can reach sizes comparable to the nervous systems of real organisms. The characteristics of the hardware also make it suitable for further applications such as artifical intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), optimization and constraint problems, simulation of general graph and networked systems, real-time signal and image processing, embedded systems and robotics, and even surprising uses such as development of quantum simulator algorithms. Additionally, the hardware has low power requirements when compared to other architectures commonly utilized for the study of these problems.
Access to the test board will be provided to interested users through the development platform of the BMBF funded KISSKI project. This introductory test phase will be used to spread awareness of the hardware and its capabilities to possible users, prepare and improve the available software stack, showcase the multiple applications the hardware is capable of, and develop teaching and training material in preparation for the full system expected in late 2024. A workshop will also be offered in late 2024 or early 2025.
For getting access to the test system, please contact us via info@kisski.de or the KISSKI webpage. For more news on SpiNNaker neuromorphic hardware keep an eye out on the usual GWDG News channels, as well as on GWDG’s Rocket Chat instance (hpc-users and spinnaker channels, we recommend joining the new spinnaker channel). For further information on the SpiNNaker platform, please consult the January/February 2024 GWDG news issue, as well as SpiNNaker’s developer website at SPiNNcloud.