1. 6th World Congress on Nature and Biologically Inspired Computing (NaBIC 2014) – Porto, Portugal
Professor Martin McGinnity1,2, Dr. John Wade1 and MSc. Pedro Machado1
1Intelligent Systems Research Centre, University of Ulster
2School of Computing and Intelligent Systems, Nottingham Trent University,
{tm.mcginnity, jj.wade,

2. Why Caenorhabditis elegans?
C. elegans is
A soil-dwelling worm with a life span of a few days
1 mm long and 80 µm in diameter
959 cells, including 95 muscle cells and 302 neurons
Completely described morphology, arrangement and connectivity of each cell
~8000 synaptic connections (~7000 chemical synaptic connections, 2000 at neuromuscular junctions, ~ 600 gap junctions)
Credits: Christie Long
“Worms shot into space show humans could survive a trip to colonize other worlds” --- NASA

3. Si Elegans A Neuromimetic Hardware Implementation of the Nervous System of the Nematode C. elegans
FPGA representations of 302 neural response models
In vivo arena
Virtual arena
Mapping of experience onto a sensory input matrix ?! =
Motor and secretory output matrix
From Real World to Emulation in Hardware

4. Si elegans nervous system
iii i ii
Synapses and gap junctions
Neural soma and dendritic tree
Axon
Axonal arbour
3D interconnectivity
3D interconnectivity
FPGA with arbitrary neuronal stimulus-response model
1&2) Directed coherent or broadband light source or
3) wire at I/O line or ) sound generator
1) Passive light distribution elements or 2) optical fibre bundles or
3) split wire ends or 4) frequency filters
1&2) Matrix of photoelectric converters or ) wire input matrix or ) microphone with spectral frequency decomposition circuitry

5. Si elegans neural modelling
Neural models have a wide range of complexity and biological realism.
They consist of mathematical equations, as the complexity and realism increases so does the number of equations to be solved.

6. Si elegans why FPGAs?
Each neural model (including synapses) will be implemented on a single FPGA.
The parallel nature of the FPGAs will allow extremely fast simulation of the c. elegans nervous system using highly complex models.
Furthermore, the large parallel network of FPGAs in our proposed system will further increase simulation speeds and biological fidelity.
Mimic plasticity of biological brain

7. Si elegans framework System Components: Software Layer Hardware Layer
User Interface
Cloud-based server
Lab-server
Hardware Layer
Interface Manager (1FPGA)
Neural network (302 FPGAs)
Muscle Network (27 FPGAs)

8. Si elegans hardware layer
Interface Manager;
Hardware Neural Network (HNN);
Hardware Muscles Network (HMN);

9. Si elegans small scale HNN
8 HNN Architecture
Server
Interface Manager (IM)
Interconnectivity board
FPGA Neuron Boards

10. Si elegans system builder
Test Software:
Allow the user to describe a simple network in “wizard” Format.
Two models:
Integrate and Fire (IF)
Leaky IF
All available parameters can be freely modified and interconnectivity specified.
Screen shot of the Si elegans system Builder Wizard

11. Well know neural models developed in VHDL
Si elegans significant results
Well know neural models developed in VHDL
Integrate and Fire
Leaky Integrate and Fire

12. Simple 8 Neuron small scale test network
Si elegans significant results
A series of experiments performed on FPGA hardware using the following simple neural network configuration developed in the Si elegans System Builder
Various configurations of neurons were examined, to ensure that the system could handle different models at the same time.
Simple 8 Neuron small scale test network

13. Si elegans significant results
A random stimulus was applied to neuron 1 to ensure that the neuron spiked periodically. Results were sent, by the Interface Manager, to the Server each time one or more neurons spiked.

14. Si elegans future work
Integrate the optical synaptic interconnect boards developed IIT with the small scale emulation platform.
Remove all wired synaptic connectivity and retest system
Ensure the developed system is capable of driving and communicating correctly with new synaptic interconnect boards prepared by IIT
Extend system to full C. elegans functionality

15. Thank you for your attention. Any Questions?
Professor Martin McGinnity
Dr. John Wade
MSc. Pedro Machado