SPERT-II: A Vector Microprocessor System and its Application to Large Problems in Backpropagation Training

John Wawrzynek, Krste Asanovic, Brian Kingsbury, James Beck, David Johnson, Nelson Morgan

Abstract: We report on our development of a high-performance system for neural network and other signal processing applications. We have designed and implemented a vector microprocessor and pack(cid:173) aged it as an attached processor for a conventional workstation. We present performance comparisons with commercial worksta(cid:173) tions on neural network backpropagation training. The SPERT-II system demonstrates significant speedups over extensively hand(cid:173) optimization code running on the workstations.