Neural mosaic logic unit

A system, comprising:

• two or more programmable logic units, each logic unit comprising:
• a number of crossbar arrays;
• a control circuit connected to the crossbar arrays and configured to provide inputs to a specified subset of crossbar arrays according to a program;
• a layer of spiking neurons connected to the crossbar arrays, wherein respective outputs from the crossbar arrays are summed together and input into the spiking neurons;
• a temporal buffer circuit configured to hold spiking activation signals from the spiking neurons for a delay time specified by the program before routing the spiking activation signals back to the crossbar arrays as input through the control circuit;
• and
• a communication substrate configured to:
• send spiking activation signals from the temporal buffer circuit to other programmable logic units in the system;
• and
• input spiking activation signals from other programmable logic units in the system into the temporal buffer circuit.

A method of computing with a programmable logic unit, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a control circuit, program instructions and input data;
• inputting signals from the control circuit to a specified subset of crossbar arrays within a number of crossbar arrays according to the program instructions;
• summing respective outputs from the subset of crossbar arrays;
• inputting the summed outputs into a layer of spiking neurons;
• outputting spiking activation signals from the spiking neurons to a temporal buffer in response to the summed outputs;
• holding the spiking activation signals in the temporal buffer for a delay specified by the program;
• and
• inputting the spiking activation signals back to the crossbar arrays through the control circuit after the specified delay.