An official website of the United States government
Grid, place, and border cells in the mammalian hippocampus and entorhinal cortex perform highly sophisticated navigational tasks with an extremely low power budget. While previous algorithms for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) in robotics have used these cells for inspiration, they have sacrificed the robust, low-power gains achieved with bioplausible models for ease of implementation. This paper presents steps towards robotic navigation with biologically realistic hippocampal models by implementing velocity-controlled oscillators, a basis for any spatially-tuned neuron, on mixed-mode neuromorphic spiking hardware.
more »
« less
Velocity-Tuned Oscillators for NeuroSLAM and Spatial Navigation
In this paper, we present the implementation of Velocity Controlled (or tuned) Oscillators (VCO) to model spatial coding and navigation in the mammalian hippocampus. Specifically, we demonstrate these spatial cells by representing a spatial firing map of grid, place, and border cells. Since the VCO is the basis for Oscillatory Interference (OI) models based on the Spatial Envelope Synthesis (SES) approach of hippocampal and entorhinal navigation, we use these models in our hardware implementation to construct more complex spatial cells from simple interference between VCOs. We develop the design of a VCO ASIC chip containing up to 128 independently tuned VCOs.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1824198
- PAR ID:
- 10189739
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2ND IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract. In this paper, we present an in-depth analysis of a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)-based sensing method for electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy, which greatly simplifies the experimental setup compared to conventional detection schemes. In contrast to our previous oscillator-based ESR detectors, where the ESR signal was encoded in the oscillation frequency, in the amplitude-sensitive method, the ESR signal is sensed as a change of the oscillation amplitude of the VCO. Therefore, using VCO architecture with a built-in amplitude demodulation scheme, the experimental setup reduces to a single permanent magnet in combination with a few inexpensive electronic components. We present a theoretical analysis of the achievable limit of detection, which uses perturbation-theory-based VCO modeling for the signal and applies a stochastic averaging approach to obtain a closed-form expression for the noise floor. Additionally, the paper also introduces a numerical model suitable for simulating oscillator-based ESR experiments in a conventional circuit simulator environment. This model can be used to optimize sensor performance early on in the design phase. Finally, all presented models are verified against measured results from a prototype VCO operating at 14 GHz inside a 0.5 T magnetic field.more » « less
-
Abstract A large body of evidence shows that the hippocampus is necessary for successful spatial navigation. Various studies have shown anatomical and functional differences between the dorsal (DHC) and ventral (VHC) portions of this structure. The DHC is primarily involved in spatial navigation and contains cells with small place fields. The VHC is primarily involved in context and emotional encoding contains cells with large place fields and receives major projections from the medial prefrontal cortex. In the past, spatial navigation experiments have used relatively simple tasks that may not have required a strong coordination along the dorsoventral hippocampal axis. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the DHC and VHC may be critical for goal‐directed navigation in obstacle‐rich environments. We used a learning task in which animals memorize the location of a set of rewarded feeders, and recall these locations in the presence of small or large obstacles. We report that bilateral DHC or VHC inactivation impaired spatial navigation in both large and small obstacle conditions. Importantly, this impairment did not result from a deficit in the spatial memory for the set of feeders (i.e., recognition of the goal locations) because DHC or VHC inactivation did not affect recall performance when there was no obstacle on the maze. We also show that the behavioral performance of the animals was correlated with several measures of maze complexity and that these correlations were significantly affected by inactivation only in the large object condition. These results suggest that as the complexity of the environment increases, both DHC and VHC are required for spatial navigation.more » « less
-
Abstract Investigations into how individual neurons encode behavioral variables of interest have revealed specific representations in single neurons, such as place and object cells, as well as a wide range of cells with conjunctive encodings or mixed selectivity. However, as most experiments examine neural activity within individual tasks, it is currently unclear if and how neural representations change across different task contexts. Within this discussion, the medial temporal lobe is particularly salient, as it is known to be important for multiple behaviors including spatial navigation and memory, however the relationship between these functions is currently unclear. Here, to investigate how representations in single neurons vary across different task contexts in the medial temporal lobe, we collected and analyzed single‐neuron activity from human participants as they completed a paired‐task session consisting of a passive‐viewing visual working memory and a spatial navigation and memory task. Five patients contributed 22 paired‐task sessions, which were spike sorted together to allow for the same putative single neurons to be compared between the different tasks. Within each task, we replicated concept‐related activations in the working memory task, as well as target‐location and serial‐position responsive cells in the navigation task. When comparing neuronal activity between tasks, we first established that a significant number of neurons maintained the same kind of representation, responding to stimuli presentations across tasks. Further, we found cells that changed the nature of their representation across tasks, including a significant number of cells that were stimulus responsive in the working memory task that responded to serial position in the spatial task. Overall, our results support a flexible encoding of multiple, distinct aspects of different tasks by single neurons in the human medial temporal lobe, whereby some individual neurons change the nature of their feature coding between task contexts.more » « less
-
We present a low phase noise four-core triple-band voltage controlled-oscillator (VCO) with reconfigurable oscillator cores and multi-mode resonator. By activation/deactivation of oscillator cores and change of resonator impedance in three modes of operations, the proposed VCO provides complete freedom in selecting the resonance frequency for three operation bands in the mm-wave range. Compared to VCOs using switch-capacitor-bank for multi-band operation, the proposed VCO does not use any series switches with passive components in the resonator to provide a low phase noise in all three bands of operation. As a proof of concept, the proposed four-core triple-band VCO is implemented in a 65 nm CMOS process using four class-D oscillators with tail switches and a compact high-Q triple-mode resonator. The VCO oscillation frequencies center at 19, 28, and 38 GHz while providing good phase noise and low power consumption in all bands. Measured results show the total frequency tuning range (FTR) of 38.5% while the PN at 1MHz offset varies from -100.3 dBc/Hz to -106.06dBc/Hz resulting in an excellent FoMT of 199.8 dBc/Hz.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- The DOI is not currently available.
