Efficient and Robust Spike-Driven Deep Convolutional Neural Networks Based on NOR Flash Computing Array

In this article, we propose an efficient and robust spike-driven convolutional neural network (SCNN) based on the NOR flash computing array (NFCA), which is mapped by the pretrained convolutional neural network with the same structure. The spike-driven system eliminates the additional analog-to-digital/digital-to-analog (AD/DA) conversion in the NFCA-based CNN. To study the performance of the hardware implementation, an NFCA-based SCNN for the recognition of the Mixed National Institute of Standards and Technology (MNIST) data set is simulated. Simulation results illustrate that the system achieves 97.94% accuracy with the computing speed of <tex-math notation="LaTeX">1 × 10⁶ </tex-math> frame per second (fps). Compared with the typical mixed-signal NFCA-based CNN, the NFCA-based SCNN saves 97% area and 56% energy consumption. Moreover, the NFCA-based SCNN demonstrates great robustness to 30% image noise with less than 2% accuracy loss. The impact of random telegraph noise (RTN) is also greatly reduced in which less than 1% accuracy decrease can be achieved at the 32-nm technology node.