Hardware-Matched Spiking Neural Networks for Real-Time Purkinje Cell Spike Classification

Abstract

Distinguishing Purkinje cell (PC) simple spikes (SSs) from complex spikes (CSs) is key to studying cerebellar function. PC recordings commonly rely on wired headstages, whose tethers restrict natural movement in freely behaving animals. Untethered headstages remove this constraint, but cannot continuously transmit raw recordings within their power budgets, making on-headstage spike classification an attractive form of compression, provided it runs accurately in real time on constrained hardware. This work presents two compact spiking neural networks (SNNs) matched to their target hardware: ConvSNN, which maps to the Matrix Vector Processor (MVP) of an EFM32PG28 microcontroller, and StreamSNN, which processes one waveform value per timestep using learned time constants and fixed synaptic delays for a dedicated SKY130 circuit. Evaluated on cells unseen during training, ConvSNN achieves a CS F1 of 0.873 with 1,018 parameters and StreamSNN 0.837 with 527 parameters, both with eight-bit weights. On the microcontroller, MVP acceleration reduces ConvSNN latency by 62.3\% and extends estimated battery life to 33.73~hours on a 50~mAh battery. In SKY130, StreamSNN occupies 0.173~mm$^2$ and consumes 0.46~$μ$J per event, with 0.2~ms of computation within an 8.3~ms end-to-end latency.