Irvine Sensors wins neural network contract

Leaders of Irvine Sensors Corp. in Costa Mesa, Calif., are set to demonstrate the feasibility of an ultra-high-density interconnect to enhance their 3-D Artificial Network technology, which they refer to as 3DANN. Irvine Sensors experts, who made a name for themselves by designing complex high-speed processors from stacks of microprocessors interconnected along the side, are looking into the project for its potential application to ballistic missile defense systems. They are working under a $738,000 research contract from the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command in Huntsville, Ala. The new interconnect is part of Irvine?s planned progression of technologies intended to lead to a Osilicon brain,O which would combine Irvine?s 3-D chip stacking with Cal-Tech?s silicon neuromorphic sensors, Jet Propulsion Laboratory?s neural circuits, Boston University?s algorithmic architectures, and the photonic interconnectivity of the University of California-San Diego and University of Southern California. J.K.