Towards a spiking VLSI implementation of Freeman's olfactory model

Abstract

We introduce the Freeman model - a nonlinear dynamic system proposed to model the operation of the cortex - and explain how its interconnected nature complicates physical realizations. We propose changing the Freeman model so that it is a spiking network in order to alleviate the implementation problems while preserving the important dynamic characteristics. We include simulation results showing that our modified spiking model demonstrates those dynamics. Finally, we show experimental results from a VLSI chip implementation of the spiking model as a proof-of-concept.