Machine learning specialist BrainChip (ASX: BRN) has secured a contract worth approximately $2.7 million with the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

The contract covers neuromorphic radar signal processing and was awarded under the SBIR program, which funds research and development by small businesses to support US government missions.

Neuromorphic engineering mimics the way the human brain works by designing hardware and software that simulate neural and synaptic functions to process information.

Multiple platforms

“Radar signal processing will be implemented on multiple mobile platforms, so minimising system size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) is critical,” chief executive officer Sean Hehir said.

The contract award follows the successful demonstration of radar processing algorithms running on BrainChip’s commercial off-the-shelf neuromorphic hardware.

“This partnership to improve radar signal applications for AFRL showcases how neuromorphic computing can achieve significant benefits of low-power, high-performance compute in the most mission-critical use cases,” Mr Hehir added.

IP portfolio

aTENNuate is the latest technological advancement BrainChip has added to its IP portfolio and expands on the company’s Temporal Neural Networks (TENNs) state space model algorithm framework.

It also complements the company’s neural processor Akida IP, an event-based technology that supports incremental learning and high-speed inference in a wide variety of use cases.

Akida allows for greater scalability and lower operational costs by using less power compared to conventional neural network accelerators.

Proprietary framework

The program will now develop algorithms based on BrainChip’s framework and optimise them to run on the company’s Akida 2.0 hardware.

This combination has demonstrated improved performance at ultra-low power compared to traditional accelerators running conventional models.

BrainChip’s neuromorphic technology provides improved cognitive communication capabilities on SWaP-C constrained platforms such as military, spacecraft and robotics for commercial and government markets.

BrainChip is now in negotiations to enter into a subcontractor agreement with an aerospace and defence company for the completion of the contract award.

Contract terms

AFRL will pay BrainChip approximately $2.7m by over the 12-month term of the agreement.

The company will partner with the subcontractor to provide research and development services, developing and optimising algorithms for a fixed fee totalling approximately $1.2m over the same period.

BrainChip is well-funded following an equity capital raising of up to $25m mid-year.