Combined local search strategy for learning in networks of binary synapses

TL;DR

This paper introduces a combined stochastic local search method using two correlated random walkers guided by Hamming distance and energy costs to improve learning in networks with binary synapses, addressing an NP-complete problem.

Contribution

The paper proposes a novel combined local search strategy with two correlated walkers to enhance learning performance in binary synapse networks.

Findings

Improved learning efficiency demonstrated through extensive simulations.

Hamming distance and energy cost estimates support the strategy's effectiveness.

Walkers cooperatively explore weight space to find solutions more effectively.

Abstract

Learning in networks of binary synapses is known to be an NP-complete problem. A combined stochastic local search strategy in the synaptic weight space is constructed to further improve the learning performance of a single random walker. We apply two correlated random walkers guided by their Hamming distance and associated energy costs (the number of unlearned patterns) to learn a same large set of patterns. Each walker first learns a small part of the whole pattern set (partially different for both walkers but with the same amount of patterns) and then both walkers explore their respective weight spaces cooperatively to find a solution to classify the whole pattern set correctly. The desired solutions locate at the common parts of weight spaces explored by these two walkers. The efficiency of this combined strategy is supported by our extensive numerical simulations and the typical Hamming distance as well as energy cost is estimated by an annealed computation.