Application of integer tables for quantisation of activation functions of neural networks

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Abstract

The paper considers the problem of efficient hardware implementation of nonlinear activation functions of neural networks under low-bit computing conditions. Standard activations, such as sigmoid and hyperbolic tangent, require resource-intensive floating-point operations, which limits their use on microcontrollers, FPGAs and other peripheral platforms. As a solution, an approach based on precomputed integer substitution tables (LUTs) is proposed to reduce computational complexity and power consumption. Using the example of the SiLU activation function widely used in popular object detection networks (e.g., YOLO), the quantisation procedure is demonstrated, the principles of constructing and using LUTs are formulated, and a practical algorithm for computing activations using them is described.

About the authors

А. А. Vasilev

LLC "Alphachip"

Author for correspondence.
Email: artvasilev@alphachip.ru

Middle Engineer

Russian Federation, Moscow

А. I. Kapitanov

SPINTech Institute, National Research University "MIET"

Email: andrey@kapdx.ru

Associate Professor

Russian Federation, Moscow

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