{"id":357,"date":"2022-01-17T17:20:03","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T17:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/ibm\/?page_id=357"},"modified":"2022-03-18T11:47:26","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T11:47:26","slug":"speeding-up-machine-learning-using-light","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/ibm\/speeding-up-machine-learning-using-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Speeding up machine learning using light"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2020, Professor C David Wright<\/a>, Co-Director at the University\u2019s Centre for Metamaterials Research & Innovation<\/em><\/a> and who has a long-standing relationship with IBM<\/a>, worked with an international team of researchers to pioneer a next-generation computer accelerator chip which processes data using light, rather than electronics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new approach \u2013 developed by researchers from IBM Research Zurich<\/a> and the Universities of M\u00fcnster<\/a>, Oxford<\/a>, Exeter<\/a>, Pittsburgh <\/a>and \u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale<\/a> \u2013 will rapidly speed up machine learning, and led the researchers to file a patent and spin-out company<\/a> for the pioneering technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Wright, who leads the EU project Fun-COMP<\/a> which funded this work, said: \u201cConventional computer chips are based on electronic data transfer and are comparatively slow, but light-based processors – such as that developed in our work – enable complex mathematical tasks to be processed at speeds hundreds or even thousands of times faster, and with hugely reduced energy consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it worked<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Matrix-vector (MV) multiplications lie at the heart of modern computing \u2013 from AI to machine learning and neural network processing \u2013 and the imperative to carry out such calculations at ever-increasing speeds, but with ever-decreasing energy consumption, is driving the development of a whole new class of processor chips, called tensor processing units (TPUs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team of researchers developed a new type of photonic TPU \u2013 one capable of carrying out several MV multiplications at the same time and in parallel, by using a chip-based frequency comb as a light source, along with wavelength-division-multiplexing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The matrix elements were stored using phase-change materials \u2013 the same material currently used for re-writable DVD and BluRay optical discs \u2013 making it possible to preserve matrix states without the need for an energy supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applications<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur results could have a wide range of applications\u201d, explained Prof. Harish Bhaskaran from the University of Oxford, a key member of the team. \u201cA photonic TPU could quickly and efficiently process huge data sets used for medical diagnoses, such as those from CT, MRI and PET scanners.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further applications could also be found in self-driving vehicles \u2013 which depend on rapidly evaluating data from multiple sensors \u2013 as well as for the provision of IT infrastructure such as cloud computing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The team of researchers were led by the University of M\u00fcnster\u2019s Prof Wolfram Pernice, and the results were published in the leading scientific journal Nature <\/em>in January 2021. The study received financial support from the EU project \u201cFun-Comp\u201d (see\u00a0www.fun-comp.org<\/a>) and from the European Research Council (ERC Grant \u201cPINQS\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the patent was filed, co-inventors from the University of Oxford and M\u00fcnster have created a spin-out company, Salience Labs<\/a>, to take the technology to a wider market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C David Wright and IBM <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Professor C David Wright<\/a> has a long-standing relationship with IBM. Over the past 15 years, he has worked closely with Dr Abu Sebastian<\/a> and Dr Haris Pozidis<\/a> at IBM Research Zurich<\/a>, on a number of cutting-edge research projects to develop novel memory and computing devices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include the \u20ac10 million ProTeM<\/em><\/a> Project developing probe-based terabyte memories; the \u20ac4 million CareRAMM<\/em> <\/a>Project, developing carbon-based non-volatile memories, and now the Phoenics <\/a><\/em>project, a follow-on to Fun-COMP where the researchers will develop a fully-on-chip photonic TPU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, Professor Wright and IBM Research Zurich have co-published their research in world-renowned academic journals such as Nature<\/em><\/a>, Science<\/a><\/em> and ACS Publications<\/a><\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, Professor Wright has also placed a number of University of Exeter PhD students with IBM Research Zurich, such as Peiman Hosseini<\/a>, who has since set up his own company, Bodle Technologies<\/a>, which built on the ideas developed during his PhD, and on which the two published a Nature paper<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2020, Professor C David Wright, Co-Director at the University\u2019s Centre for Metamaterials Research & Innovation and who has a long-standing relationship with IBM, worked with an international team of researchers to pioneer a next-generation computer accelerator chip which processes data using light, rather than electronics. The new approach \u2013 developed by researchers from IBM […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":359,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-sidebar-boxed-feature-img.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSpeeding up machine learning using light - The University of Exeter and IBM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/ibm\/speeding-up-machine-learning-using-light\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Speeding up machine learning using light - The University of Exeter and IBM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2020, Professor C David Wright, Co-Director at the University\u2019s Centre for Metamaterials Research & Innovation and who has a long-standing relationship with IBM, worked with an international team of researchers to pioneer a next-generation computer accelerator chip which processes data using light, rather than electronics. 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