and infrastructure gaps.
A core component of SPEAR is a doctoral training programme involving 15 PhD students, delivered in collaboration with ATU, Tyndall National Institute, and Seagate Technology. Three students will be based at Ulster University (Derry~Londonderry campus) and will join a joint Doctoral College with researchers at ATU (Letterkenny campus) and Tyndall. The programme includes co-supervision, shared training, summer schools, industry engagement, and access to advanced facilities. This PhD studentship is now open for applications.
PhD Topic: Networks-on-Chip (NoC) Interconnect Strategy for Scalable Neuromorphic Hardware
Neuromorphic hardware mimics the brain using spiking neural networks, enabling efficient, parallel, and event-driven computation. Its low power and real-time processing make it well suited for edge applications such as IoT, smart manufacturing, and energy-efficient data centres. A key challenge is designing scalable interconnects between neurons, synapses, and glial cells. Networks-on-Chip (NoCs) provide a scalable communication framework for such systems, supporting event-based data transfer.
Recent work at Ulster has developed astrocyte-neuron networks that integrate glial cells to enable adaptability and self-repair. However, scaling these systems introduces significant interconnect challenges. Advances in photonics offer high-speed, energy-efficient on-chip communication, creating opportunities to combine NoC and photonic approaches for next-generation neuromorphic hardware.
This PhD aims to innovate in a new NoC interconnect solution for large-scale neuromorphic hardware, which utilise photonics-based mechanisms. The PhD work will examine impacts on NoC design, including routers and topologies. The PhD project has access to modern Intel (Altera) AMD (Xilinx) FPGAs and a large suite of Agilent logic analyser/oscilloscope instrumentation; existing in-house reference FPGA-based neuromorphic NoC designs are available to support initial explorations.
Funding Notes
Eligibility: Open for UK and Republic of Ireland Students Only
This project is funded by SEUPB Peace Plus (SPEAR)
