LRADNN: High-throughput and energy-efficient Deep Neural Network accelerator using Low Rank Approximation.

In this work, we propose an energy-efficient hardware accelerator for Deep Neural Network (DNN) using Low Rank Approximation (LRADNN). Using this scheme, inactive neurons in each layer of the DNN are dynamically identified and the corresponding computations are then bypassed. Accordingly, both the memory accesses and the arithmetic operations associated with these inactive neurons can be saved. Therefore, compared to the architectures using the direct feed-forward algorithm, LRADNN can achieve a higher throughput as well as a lower energy consumption with negligible prediction accuracy loss (within 0.1%). We implement and synthesize the proposed accelerator using TSMC 65nm technology. From the experimental results, a 31% to 53% energy reduction together with a 22% to 43% throughput increase can be achieved.