IBM and the US Air Force Collaborate on a Brain-Inspired Supercomputing System

The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) announced that is it partnering with IBM on a “first-of-a-kind, brain-inspired supercomputing system powered by a 64-chip array of the IBM TrueNorth Neurosynaptic system.” The result of the collaboration will be an “end-to-end software ecosystem designed to enable deep neural-network learning and information discovery.” IBM reports that the system will provide the pattern recognition and sensory processing equivalent to 64 million neurons and 16 billion synapses.

IBM’s TrueNorth neurosynaptic system is designed to convert data such as images, video, audio, and text into symbolic form in real time. According to Daniel S. Goddard, director of of the AFRL information directorate, “The new neurosynaptic system will be used to enable new computing capabilities important to AFRL’s mission to explore, prototype, and demonstrate high-impact, game-changing technologies that enable the Air Force and the nation to maintain its superior technical advantage.”

Learn more about TrueNorth and the AFRL project at the IBM website.