Neuromorphic Engineering Book
  • Welcome
  • Preliminaries
    • About the author
    • Preface
    • A tale about passion and fear
    • Before we begin
  • I. Introduction
    • 1. Introducing the perspective of the scientist
      • From the neuron doctrine to emergent behavior
      • Brain modeling
      • Take away lessons
    • 2. Introducing the perspective of the computer architect
      • Limits of integrated circuits
      • Emerging computing paradigms
      • Brain-inspired hardware
      • Take away lessons
      • Errata
    • 3. Introducing the perspective of the algorithm designer
      • From artificial to spiking neural networks
      • Neuromorphic software development
      • Take home lessons
  • II. Scientist perspective
    • 4. Biological description of neuronal dynamics
      • Potentials, spikes and power estimation
      • Take away lessons
      • Errata
    • 5. Models of point neuronal dynamic
      • Tutorial - models of point neuronal processes
        • The leaky integrate and fire model
        • The Izhikevich neuron model
        • The Hodgkin-Huxley neuron model
      • Synapse modeling and point neurons
      • Case study: a SNN for perceptual filling-in
      • Take away lessons
    • 6. Models of morphologically detailed neurons
      • Morphologically detailed modeling
      • The cable equation
      • The compartmental model
      • Case study: direction-selective SAC
      • Take away lessons
    • 7. Models of network dynamic and learning
      • Circuit taxonomy, reconstruction, and simulation
      • Case study: SACs' lateral inhibition in direction selectivity
      • Neuromorphic and biological learning
      • Take away lessons
      • Errate
  • III. Architect perspective
    • 8. Neuromorphic Hardware
      • Transistors and micro-power circuitry
      • The silicon neuron
      • Case study: hardware - software co-synthesis
      • Take away lessons
    • 9. Communication and hybrid circuit design
      • Neural architectures
      • Take away lessons
    • 10. In-memory computing with memristors
      • Memristive computing
      • Take away lessons
      • Errata
  • IV. Algorithm designer perspective
    • 11. Introduction to neuromorphic programming
      • Theory and neuromorphic programming
      • Take away lessons
    • 12. The neural engineering framework
      • NEF: Representation
      • NEF: Transformation
      • NEF: Dynamics
      • Case study: motion detection using oscillation interference
      • Take away lessons
      • Errate
    • 13. Learning spiking neural networks
      • Learning with SNN
      • Take away lessons
Powered by GitBook
On this page

Was this helpful?

  1. IV. Algorithm designer perspective

12. The neural engineering framework

Chapter 12

PreviousTake away lessonsNextNEF: Representation

Last updated 3 years ago

Was this helpful?

One of the most significant steps in software design was the development of the compiler. The compiler translates and optimizes high-level instructions to machine code. It separates code from the underlying hardware such that high-level descriptions can be compiled to work on various hardware architectures, ideally, with no changes to the code itself. In the neuromorphic world, a neuro-compiler would translate a high-level description of a SNN into low-level neuron specifications. One framework which allows such compilation is Nengo, powered by the NEF. In this chapter, we will learn about the basics of the NEF and see how it can come to life with Nengo. This chapter’s didactic approach was inspired and modified (with permission) from the course notes for SYDE 556: Simulating Neurobiological Systems, offered by Chris Eliasmith at the University of Waterloo.

Introduction to Nengo:

Source: Bekolay et al. 2014