Biological neural networks are well known for their capacity to process information with extremely low power consumption. Fields such as Artificial Intelligence, with high computational costs, are seeking for alternatives inspired in biological systems. An inspiring alternative is to implement hardware architectures that replicate the behavior of biological neurons but with the flexibility in programming capabilities of an electronic device, all combined with a relatively low operational cost. To advance in this quest, here we analyze the capacity of the HEENS hardware architecture to operate in a similar manner as an in vitro neuronal network grown in the laboratory. For that, we considered data of spontaneous activity in living neuronal cultures of about 400 neurons and compared their collective dynamics and functional behavior with those obtained from direct numerical simulations (in silico) and hardware implementations (in duris silico). The results show that HEENS is capable to mimic both the in vitro and in silico systems with high efficient-cost ratio, and on different network topological designs. Our work shows that compact low-cost hardware implementations are feasible, opening new avenues for future, highly efficient neuromorphic devices and advanced human-machine interfacing.

This paper introduces a novel workflow for Distributed Spiking Neural Network Architecture (DSNA). As such, the hardware implementation of Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD)-based Spiking Neural Network (SNN) requires the development of user-friendly and efficient toolchain in order to maximise the potential that the architecture brings. By using a novel SNN architecture, a custom designed hardware/software toolchain has been developed. The toolchain performance has been experimentally checked on a Band-Pass Filter (BPF), obtaining optimized code and data.