"The approach, described in a paper published in Nature, overcomes the Von Neumann bottleneck that occurs in classical computing architecture, where performance is limited by the speed with which data can move between memory and the central processing unit. The authors of the paper discuss an approach that eliminates digital-analogue conversions and the need to merge compute and memory, allowing them to bypass the Von Neumann bottleneck."
"In doing so, they said the AOC can achieve substantial efficiency gains in certain circumstances. They projected that the AOC would deliver performance of around 500 tera-operations per second per watt at 8-bit precision, which they claim would make it over 100 times more efficient than leading graphics processing units."
"The Microsoft researchers combined 3D optical and analogue electronic technologies, using projectors with optical lenses, digital sensors and micro light-emitting diodes to build it. As the light passes through the sensor at different intensities, the AOC can add and multiply numbers, which is the basis for solving optimisation problems."
Microsoft and Barclays developed a scalable analogue optical computer (AOC) architecture that bypasses the Von Neumann bottleneck by eliminating digital-analogue conversions and avoiding the need to merge compute and memory. The AOC combines 3D optical and analogue electronic components — projectors, optical lenses, digital sensors and micro light-emitting diodes — to perform arithmetic as light intensity encodes values. The architecture accelerates five operations for optimisation: matrix-vector multiplication, nonlinearity, annealing, addition and subtraction. Projected performance reaches about 500 tera-operations per second per watt at 8-bit precision, claiming over 100× energy efficiency versus leading GPUs for some tasks. Microsoft and Barclays applied the AOC to a delivery-versus-payment securities settlement optimisation problem.
Read at ComputerWeekly.com
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