Category Archives: News

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New Paper: Proximal Policy Optimization for Radiation Source Search

Proctor, P.; Teuscher, C.; Hecht, A.; Osiński, M. Proximal Policy Optimization for Radiation Source Search. Journal of Nuclear Engineering, 2:368-397, 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/jne2040029

Rapid search and localization for nuclear sources can be an important aspect in preventing human harm from illicit material in dirty bombs or from contamination. In the case of a single mobile radiation detector, there are numerous challenges to overcome such as weak source intensity, multiple sources, background radiation, and the presence of obstructions, i.e., a non-convex environment. In this work, we investigate the sequential decision making capability of deep reinforcement learning in the nuclear source search context. A novel neural network architecture (RAD-A2C) based on the advantage actor critic (A2C) framework and a particle filter gated recurrent unit for localization is proposed. Performance is studied in a randomized 20×20 m convex and non-convex simulation environment across a range of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)s for a single detector and single source. RAD-A2C performance is compared to both an information-driven controller that uses a bootstrap particle filter and to a gradient search (GS) algorithm. We find that the RAD-A2C has comparable performance to the information-driven controller across SNR in a convex environment. The RAD-A2C far outperforms the GS algorithm in the non-convex environment with greater than 95% median completion rate for up to seven obstructions.

IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Special Section on Non-Von Neumann Technologies Published

S. Pakin, K. Schuman, C. Teuscher. Special Section on Parallel and Distributed Computing Techniques for Non-Von Neumann Technologies, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems (TPDS), 32(2), 2022, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/tocresult.jsp?isnumber=9493664

NEW PAPER: Spoken Digit Classification by In-Materio Reservoir Computing With Neuromorphic Atomic Switch Networks

Lilak S, Woods W, Scharnhorst K, Dunham C, Teuscher C, Stieg AZ and Gimzewski JK (2021) Spoken Digit Classification by In-Materio Reservoir Computing With Neuromorphic Atomic Switch Networks. Frontiers in Nanotechnology, 3:675792. doi: 10.3389/fnano.2021.675792

Abstract: Atomic Switch Networks comprising silver iodide (AgI) junctions, a material previously unexplored as functional memristive elements within highly interconnected nanowire networks, were employed as a neuromorphic substrate for physical Reservoir Computing. This new class of ASN-based devices has been physically characterized and utilized to classify spoken digit audio data, demonstrating the utility of substrate-based device architectures where intrinsic material properties can be exploited to perform computation in-materio. This work demonstrates high accuracy in the classification of temporally analyzed Free-Spoken Digit Data These results expand upon the class of viable memristive materials available for the production of functional nanowire networks and bolster the utility of ASN-based devices as unique hardware platforms for neuromorphic computing applications involving memory, adaptation and learning.

NEW PAPER: A golden age for computing frontiers, a dark age for computing education?

Paper: https://doi.org/10.1145/3457388.3458673 

Abstract: There is no doubt that the body of knowledge spanned by the computing disciplines has gone through an unprecedented expansion, both in depth and breadth, over the last century. In this position paper, we argue that this expansion has led to a crisis in computing education: quite literally the vast majority of the topics of interest of this conference are not taught at the undergraduate level and most graduate courses will only scratch the surface of a few selected topics. But alas, industry is increasingly expecting students to be familiar with emerging topics, such as neuromorphic, probabilistic, and quantum computing, AI, and deep learning. We provide evidence for the rapid growth of emerging topics, highlight the decline of traditional areas, muse about the failure of higher education to adapt quickly, and delineate possible ways to avert the crisis by looking at how the field of physics dealt with significant expansions over the last centuries.

Presentation: https://youtu.be/gjw9dRWaeNM

Citation: C. Teuscher, “A golden age for computing frontiers, a dark age for computing education?” In Proceedings of the 18th ACM International Conference on Computing Frontiers (CF ’21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 140–143, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3457388.3458673

Paper acceptance rate: 25%