Neural Architecture Search of Time-to-First-Spike-Coded Spiking Neural Networks for Efficient Eye-based Emotion Recognition

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Liu, Qianhui, Yang, Jing, Yu, Miao, Carlson, Trevor E., Pan, Gang, Li, Haizhou, Chen, Zhumin
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Liu, Qianhui
Yang, Jing
Yu, Miao
Carlson, Trevor E.
Pan, Gang
Li, Haizhou
Chen, Zhumin
author_facet Liu, Qianhui
Yang, Jing
Yu, Miao
Carlson, Trevor E.
Pan, Gang
Li, Haizhou
Chen, Zhumin
contents Eye-based emotion recognition enables eyewear devices to perceive users' emotional states and support emotion-aware interaction. However, deploying such functionality on their resource-limited embedded hardware remains challenging. Time-to-first-spike (TTFS)-coded spiking neural networks (SNNs) offer a promising solution due to their extremely sparse and energy-efficient computation, where each neuron emits at most one binary spike. While prior works have primarily focused on improving TTFS SNN training algorithms, the role of network architecture has been largely overlooked. This is particularly critical, as spike timing in TTFS SNNs is tightly coupled with architectural design, and eye-based emotion recognition requires compact yet highly efficient networks. In this paper, we propose TNAS-ER, the first neural architecture search (NAS) framework tailored to TTFS SNNs for eye-based emotion recognition. TNAS-ER presents a novel ANN-assisted search strategy that leverages a ReLU-based ANN counterpart to guide architecture optimization and stabilize training of the TTFS SNN. TNAS-ER employs an evolutionary algorithm, with weighted and unweighted average recall jointly defined as fitness objectives for emotion recognition. Extensive experiments demonstrate that TNAS-ER achieves high recognition performance with significantly improved efficiency. Furthermore, we evaluate TNAS-ER on a neuromorphic hardware, confirming its superior energy efficiency and strong potential for real-world applications.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_02459
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Neural Architecture Search of Time-to-First-Spike-Coded Spiking Neural Networks for Efficient Eye-based Emotion Recognition
Liu, Qianhui
Yang, Jing
Yu, Miao
Carlson, Trevor E.
Pan, Gang
Li, Haizhou
Chen, Zhumin
Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Eye-based emotion recognition enables eyewear devices to perceive users' emotional states and support emotion-aware interaction. However, deploying such functionality on their resource-limited embedded hardware remains challenging. Time-to-first-spike (TTFS)-coded spiking neural networks (SNNs) offer a promising solution due to their extremely sparse and energy-efficient computation, where each neuron emits at most one binary spike. While prior works have primarily focused on improving TTFS SNN training algorithms, the role of network architecture has been largely overlooked. This is particularly critical, as spike timing in TTFS SNNs is tightly coupled with architectural design, and eye-based emotion recognition requires compact yet highly efficient networks. In this paper, we propose TNAS-ER, the first neural architecture search (NAS) framework tailored to TTFS SNNs for eye-based emotion recognition. TNAS-ER presents a novel ANN-assisted search strategy that leverages a ReLU-based ANN counterpart to guide architecture optimization and stabilize training of the TTFS SNN. TNAS-ER employs an evolutionary algorithm, with weighted and unweighted average recall jointly defined as fitness objectives for emotion recognition. Extensive experiments demonstrate that TNAS-ER achieves high recognition performance with significantly improved efficiency. Furthermore, we evaluate TNAS-ER on a neuromorphic hardware, confirming its superior energy efficiency and strong potential for real-world applications.
title Neural Architecture Search of Time-to-First-Spike-Coded Spiking Neural Networks for Efficient Eye-based Emotion Recognition
topic Neural and Evolutionary Computing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.02459