The PHRESCO project focuses on the development of efficient cognitive computing using photonics silicon-based technology. The final objective of PHRESCO is to design a new reservoir computing chip, including innovative electronic and photonic components allowing major advances in the field. The consortium of the project is composed by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) in Belgium, who is the coordinator, the Universiteit Gent (UGent) in Belgium, the Leibniz Institute for Innovative Microelectronics (IHP) in Germany, IBM Research GmbH in Switzerland and the Centrale Supélec (CS) in France.
New computing paradigms are required to feed the next revolution in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Machines that can learn, but also handle vast amount of data, need to be invented. In order to achieve this goal and still reduce the energy footprint of ICT, fundamental hardware innovations must be done. Most of the time, CMOS is used to emulate e.g. neuronal behavior, but is intrinsically limited in power efficiency and speed. On the other hand, Reservoir Computing (RC) is one of the new computing methods that has proven its efficiency to perform tasks where traditional approaches fail. It is also one of the rare concepts of an efficient hardware realization of cognitive computing into a specific, silicon-based technology.
The overall objectives of the projects are i) to scale optical RC systems ii) build an all-optical chip based on the unique electro-optical properties of new materials iii) implement new learning algorithms to exploit the capabilities of the RC chip.
The main conclusions of the action are the folowing:
- Demonstration of upscaling of the optical reservoir system
- Integration of functional new materials with PIC technology
- Development of new training methods of the reservoir