Description du projet
Puce biomimétique pour la détection et le calcul neuronal intégrés
Le projet InsectNeuroNano, financé par l’UE, vise à développer des dispositifs nanophotoniques sur puce innovants pour la détection et le calcul intégrés, inspirés du système neuronal des insectes. Cette technologie combinera des connaissances avancées sur la neurobiologie des insectes pour la conception de circuits et la navigation autonome avec la semi-conductivité des nanofils afin d’exploiter la lumière pour l’interconnexion. Elle exploitera des colorants moléculaires stables comme nouveaux composants de mémoire et utilisera la technologie des circuits pour l’informatique quantique. En guise de preuve de concept, InsectNeuroNano recréera une voie allant de la détection de la lumière polarisée par les insectes aux circuits de mémoire qui intègrent les informations pour fournir une estimation continue de la localisation. L’objectif final est de créer une puce permettant la navigation de véhicules autonomes sans GPS. Les composants neuronaux développés seront ensuite utilisés comme blocs de construction dans un large éventail de circuits.
Objectif
We propose nanophotonic on-chip devices for integrated sensing and neural computation, inspired by the insect brain. This will uniquely combine four lines of research: 1) progress in understanding insect neurobiology that provides proven circuit designs to solve significant problems such as autonomous navigation; 2) advanced III-V semiconductor nanowire technology that exploits light to obtain a large number of interconnects with extremely low power consumption; 3) optically efficient stable molecular dyes that can be used for novel memory components; 4) circuit technology developed for quantum computing. As proof of concept, we target the complete pathway from polarised light sensing in the insect eye to the internal compass and memory circuits by which this information is integrated in a continuous accurate estimate of location. Building on verified models, we will first demonstrate that the computational principles can be implemented using overlapping light signals in a nanoscale system, with high error tolerance and orders of magnitude better energy and spatial footprint than present technologies. We will then explore neuromorphic memory functionalities from nanoelectronics and molecular dyes, in parallel with deeper investigation of the memory substrates in the insect brain. The same nanostructures used for computing can be used for optical sensing, and we will develop an integrated sensor and information processing array to extract global orientation information from polarised skylight. The direct outcome will be an energy efficient, robust chip enabling autonomous vehicle navigation without GPS, with many potential applications; but more importantly, the novel neural components we will develop can then be re-assembled into a wide spectrum of circuits to mimic other computations in the insect brain. The technology platform can be integrated with silicon technology and we will demonstrate the pathway to upscaling and commercialization.
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HORIZON-EIC - HORIZON EIC GrantsCoordinateur
22100 Lund
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