Student project: Efficient Audio De-Noising in Neuromorphic Hardware

What you will do

The audio Noise Suppression task is a good fit for neuromorphic processors due to its latency and power requirements. Introducing the Neuromorphic Deep Noise Suppression Challenge by intel [1] motivates us to investigate this application to perform benchmarking and comparison with other state-of-the-art neuromorphic platforms. During this project, the student will analyze the challenges when implementing the state-of-the-art DNS algorithms in imec's neuromorphic hardware [2]. Then, an HW-aware algorithm optimization for DNS applications will be done. Finally, the student will benchmark the proposed solution's performance (latency, energy) with state-of-the-art in this challenge. Optionally, the student may show a real-time audio de-noising demonstrator using the imec neuromorphic processor. 
[1] "The Intel Neuromorphic DNS Challenge." arXiv preprint arXiv:2303.09503 (2023).
[2] "SENeCA: Scalable energy-efficient neuromorphic computer architecture." 2022 IEEE 4th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Circuits and Systems (AICAS). IEEE, 2022.

What we do for you

Imec is one of the world's leading research institutes in micro and nano-electronics. The neuromorphic team of imec includes experts in computational neuroscience, Machine learning and neuromorphic algorithms, and hardware architectures. The work of this project will fall under the scope of a European ECSEL project ("DAIS"), and the outputs will be published in deliverables and high-impact journals/conferences (subject to the quality of the work). Imec NL provides the required equipment, access to lab facilities, a workplace in the Holst Centre at High Tech Campus, and a monthly internship allowance during the internship. 

Who you are

• M.Sc./Ph.D. students with a relevant background (non-European students are only eligible if they study in the Netherlands).
• Available for at least 9 months, preferably 12 months. 
• Have excellent programming skills in Python, a deep learning library (TF/PyTorch/etc.) and C (embedded programming).
• Motivated student, good communicator, easy collaborator, and eager to work independently and expand knowledge in the field.
• Entitled to do an internship in the Netherlands, Eindhoven.
• Good written and verbal English skills.

Interested

Does this project sound like an interesting next step in your career at imec? Don’t hesitate to submit your application by clicking on ‘APPLY NOW’.
Got some questions about the recruitment process? Martijn Kohl of the Talent Acquisition Team will be happy to assist you.