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FPGA Realization of Activation Function for Artificial Neural Networks

Publication Type : Conference Proceedings

Publisher : IEEE

Source : IEEE 8th International Conference on Intelligent Systems Design and Applications, ISDA 2008, IEEE, Volume 3, Taiwan, p.159-164 (2008)

Url : http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-67549146862&partnerID=40&md5=19882d80b68d5cdf7e75268b719c9055

ISBN : 9780769533827

Keywords : Activation Function, ANN, Backpropagation, Field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), FPGA, Intelligent systems, Lookup table based, Neural networks, Piecewise Linear Approximation, Piecewise linear techniques, Systems analysis, Table lookup

Campus : Coimbatore

School : School of Engineering

Department : Electronics and Communication

Verified : Yes

Year : 2008

Abstract : Implementation of Artificial Neural network (ANN) in hardware is needed to fully utilize the inherent parallelism. Presented work focuses on the configuration of Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to realize the activation function utilized in ANN. The computation of a nonlinear activation function (AF) is one of the factors that constraint the area or the computation time. The most popular AF is the log-sigmoid function, which has different possibilities of realizing in digital hardware. Equation approximation, Lookup Table (LUT) based approach and Piecewise Linear Approximation (PWL) are a few to mention. A two-fold approach to optimize the resource requirement is presented here. Primarily, Fixed-point computation (FXP) that needs minimal hardware, as against floating-point computation (FLP) is followed. Secondly, the PWL approximation of AF with more precision is proved to consume lesser Si area when compared to LUT based AF. Experimental results are presented for computation.

Cite this Research Publication : Va Saichand, Dr. Nirmala Devi M., Arumugam, Sc, and N Mohankumar, “FPGA Realization of Activation Function for Artificial Neural Networks”, IEEE 8th International Conference on Intelligent Systems Design and Applications, ISDA 2008, vol. 3. IEEE, Taiwan, pp. 159-164, 2008.

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