An Event-Driven Categorization Model for AER Image Sensors Using Multispike Encoding and Learning

In this article, we present a systematic computational model to explore brain-based computation for object recognition. The model extracts temporal features embedded in address-event representation (AER) data and discriminates different objects by using spiking neural networks (SNNs). We use multispike encoding to extract temporal features contained in the AER data. These temporal patterns are then learned through the tempotron learning rule. The presented model is consistently implemented in a temporal learning framework, where the precise timing of spikes is considered in the feature-encoding and learning process. A noise-reduction method is also proposed by calculating the correlation of an event with the surrounding spatial neighborhood based on the recently proposed time-surface technique. The model evaluated on wide spectrum data sets (MNIST, N-MNIST, MNIST-DVS, AER Posture, and Poker Card) demonstrates its superior recognition performance, especially for the events with noise.