论文标题
基于非挥发记忆阵列的量化和噪声LSTM神经网络
Non-Volatile Memory Array Based Quantization- and Noise-Resilient LSTM Neural Networks
论文作者
论文摘要
在云和边缘计算模型中,重要的是,在边缘处的设备要尽可能有效。长期记忆(LSTM)神经网络已被广泛用于自然语言处理,时间序列预测和许多其他顺序数据任务。因此,对于这些应用,对于边缘的LSTM模型推断,低功率加速器的需求越来越大。为了减少由于推理设备内的数据传输而导致的功率耗散,人们对使用非挥发存储器(NVM)权重阵列加速矢量矩阵乘法(VMM)操作引起了重大兴趣。在基于NVM阵列的硬件中,减少的位宽度也大大提高了功率效率。在本文中,我们专注于在LSTM模型中应用量化感知训练算法的应用,这些模型在量化误差和模拟设备噪声方面带来的益处。我们已经表明,仅需要4位NVM权重和4位ADC/DAC来产生等效的LSTM网络性能作为浮点基线。合理水平的ADC量化噪声和重量噪声可以自然耐受我们的NVMB基于量化的LSTM网络。与传统数字方法(GPU,FPGA和ASIC)相比,我们提出的推理的基准分析至少显示出2.4倍的计算效率和面积效率高40倍。基于NVM的其他一些新型方法承诺可以提供更高的计算效率(最高4.7倍),但需要更大的阵列具有较高的错误率。
In cloud and edge computing models, it is important that compute devices at the edge be as power efficient as possible. Long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks have been widely used for natural language processing, time series prediction and many other sequential data tasks. Thus, for these applications there is increasing need for low-power accelerators for LSTM model inference at the edge. In order to reduce power dissipation due to data transfers within inference devices, there has been significant interest in accelerating vector-matrix multiplication (VMM) operations using non-volatile memory (NVM) weight arrays. In NVM array-based hardware, reduced bit-widths also significantly increases the power efficiency. In this paper, we focus on the application of quantization-aware training algorithm to LSTM models, and the benefits these models bring in terms of resilience against both quantization error and analog device noise. We have shown that only 4-bit NVM weights and 4-bit ADC/DACs are needed to produce equivalent LSTM network performance as floating-point baseline. Reasonable levels of ADC quantization noise and weight noise can be naturally tolerated within our NVMbased quantized LSTM network. Benchmark analysis of our proposed LSTM accelerator for inference has shown at least 2.4x better computing efficiency and 40x higher area efficiency than traditional digital approaches (GPU, FPGA, and ASIC). Some other novel approaches based on NVM promise to deliver higher computing efficiency (up to 4.7x) but require larger arrays with potential higher error rates.