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Compared to the first generation of deep neural networks, dominated by regular, compute-intensive kernels such as matrix multiplications (MatMuls) and convolutions, modern decoder-based transformers interleave attention, normalization, and…
Attention is a core operation in numerous machine learning and artificial intelligence models. This work focuses on the acceleration of attention kernel using FlashAttention algorithm, in vector processors, particularly those based on the…
Transformer-based generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) models achieve remarkable results in a wide range of fields, including natural language processing, computer vision, and audio processing. However, this comes at the cost of…
As the performance gains from accelerating quantized matrix multiplication plateau, the softmax operation becomes the critical bottleneck in Transformer inference. This bottleneck stems from two hardware limitations: (1) limited data…
Edge AI deployment faces critical challenges balancing computational performance, energy efficiency, and resource constraints. This paper presents FPGA-accelerated RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA) extensions for efficient neural…
Dense Matrix Multiplication (MatMul) is arguably one of the most ubiquitous compute-intensive kernels, spanning linear algebra, DSP, graphics, and machine learning applications. Thus, MatMul optimization is crucial not only in…
Fast and energy-efficient low-bitwidth floating-point (FP) arithmetic is essential for Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. Microscaling (MX) standardized formats have recently emerged as a promising alternative to baseline low-bitwidth FP…
Transformer-based foundation models have become crucial for various domains, most notably natural language processing (NLP) or computer vision (CV). These models are predominantly deployed on high-performance GPUs or hardwired accelerators…
The importance of open-source hardware and software has been increasing. However, despite GPUs being one of the more popular accelerators across various applications, there is very little open-source GPU infrastructure in the public domain.…
FlashAttention-style online softmax enables exact attention computation with linear memory by streaming score tiles through on-chip memory and maintaining a running maximum and normalizer. However, as attention kernels approach peak…
This paper presents an automated approach for designing processors that support a subset of the RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA) for a new class of applications at Extreme Edge. The electronics used in extreme edge applications…
Whilst numerous areas of computing have adopted the RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) wholesale in recent years, it is yet to become widespread in HPC. RISC-V accelerators offer a compelling option where the HPC community can…
Transformer networks have emerged as the state-of-the-art approach for natural language processing tasks and are gaining popularity in other domains such as computer vision and audio processing. However, the efficient hardware acceleration…
By exploiting the modular RISC-V ISA this paper presents the customization of instruction set with posit\textsuperscript{\texttrademark} arithmetic instructions to provide improved numerical accuracy, well-defined behavior and increased…
The attention mechanism is a pivotal element within the transformer architecture, making a substantial contribution to its exceptional performance. Within this attention mechanism, Softmax is an imperative component that enables the model…
This work introduces lightweight extensions to the RISC-V ISA to boost the efficiency of heavily Quantized Neural Network (QNN) inference on microcontroller-class cores. By extending the ISA with nibble (4-bit) and crumb (2-bit) SIMD…
Transformers have significantly advanced AI and machine learning through their powerful attention mechanism. However, computing attention on long sequences can become a computational bottleneck. FlashAttention mitigates this by fusing the…
To meet the computational requirements of modern workloads under tight energy constraints, general-purpose accelerator architectures have to integrate an ever-increasing number of extremely area- and energy-efficient processing elements…
Recent advancements in quantization and mixed-precision approaches offers substantial opportunities to improve the speed and energy efficiency of Neural Networks (NN). Research has shown that individual parameters with varying low…
Sparse linear algebra is crucial in many application domains, but challenging to handle efficiently in both software and hardware, with one- and two-sided operand sparsity handled with distinct approaches. In this work, we enhance an…