UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE
	     COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM

			    presents

	     "Neuromorphic Computing in Odour Space"

		       Dr. Michael Schmuker

    (Biocomputation Research Group, School of Computer Science,
		  University of Hertfordshire)

		    19 October 2016  (Wednesday)
			   1 - 2 pm


		  Hatfield, College Lane Campus
			Seminar Room D102

		  Everyone is Welcome to Attend

		  Refreshments will be available


Abstract:


Chemical sensing is an amazing interdisciplinary research field that
incorporates Electronics, Neuroscience, Chemistry, Signal Processing and
Pattern Recognition. Our own sense of smell enables us to explore the
world of chemical information. Yet, our knowledge on chemical sensing
lags far behind other sensory domains like vision or hearing, regarding
both technical solutions as well as the neuroscientific foundations.
"Odour space" is notoriously hard to grasp, because of this highly
disciplinary nature and the sheer complexity of the chemical stimulus
space. The sense of smell of insects and mammals is highly evolved and
vastly outperforms current electronic solutions. Hence, a better
understanding of how Odour Space is processed in the brain may
accelerate bio-inspired design of efficient technical solutions for
chemical sensing.

Starting from recent results on the information encoded in turbulent
odour plumes, I will present our research on how chemical information is
encoded and filtered in the olfactory system. Inspired by these results
we  implemented key concepts of olfactory processing for multivariate
pattern recognition on a so-called neuromorphic hardware system. This
system uses dedicated electronic circuits to represent spiking neurons,
in a very brain-like fashion. In our current research, we explore bionic
applications of olfaction-inspired signal processing and pattern
recognition using electronic gas sensors.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hertfordshire Computer Science Research Colloquium
http://cs-colloq.cs.herts.ac.uk