ENCODING AND PROCESSING SPATIAL INFORMATION USING A CUSTOM VLSI HYBRID TEMPORAL PROCESSING ELEMENT

THE GENERAL NEED FOR EFFICIENT, ROBUST SYSTEMS FOR ENCODING AND PROCESSING SPATIAL INFORMATION BY DEVELOPING A PROTOTYPE PROGRAMMABLE SPATIAL MEMORY SYSTEM FOR APPLICATION IN ROBOTIC SYSTEMS AND AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES IS BEING ADDRESSED. FREQUENCY AND PHASE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN OSCILLATORS-REPRESENTING OBJECTS IN THE APPLICATION ENVIRONMENT-ARE EXAMINED AS POSSIBLE DISTANCE AND DIRECTION ENCODING MECHANISMS. THE PROTOTYPE SYSTEM IS BASED ON A HYBRID TEMPORAL PROCESSING ELEMENT (HTPE), A GENERAL PURPOSE MODEL NEURON THAT COMBINES ANALOG AND DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING CAPABILITIES WITH LOW COMPONENT COUNT, LOW POWER DISSIPATION, AND HIGH PROCESSING SPEED.