A High-Accuracy Digital Implementation of the Morris-Lecar Neuron With Variable Physiological Parameters

A highly accurate digital implementation of the Morris-Lecar neuron model is presented with the intended application of hardware acceleration for neuroscience simulation. The novel implementation employs the COordinate Rotation DIgital Computer (CORDIC) algorithm to create a fixed-point implementation that is not only very accurate but requires low digital hardware resources. The accuracy exceeds that of the current state-of-the-art, requires fewer hardware resources to implement, and operates at a higher maximum clock frequency. The design is validated on FPGA and a normalized RMSE of 0.2039 is achieved at a maximum clock frequency of 378.07MHz.

Automated summary

A highly accurate digital implementation of the Morris-Lecar neuron model is proposed for hardware acceleration in neuroscience simulation. The implementation utilizes the COordinate Rotation DIgital Computer (CORDIC) algorithm to create a fixed-point implementation that is both highly accurate and requires low digital hardware resources. Compared to the current state-of-the-art, this design achieves higher accuracy, requires fewer hardware resources, and operates at a higher maximum clock frequency. The design is validated on FPGA with a normalized RMSE of 0.2039 at a maximum clock frequency of 378.07MHz.