Dynamic Symmetric Point Tracking: Tackling Non-ideal Reference in Analog In-memory Training

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Xiao, Quan, Li, Jindan, Wu, Zhaoxian, Gokmen, Tayfun, Chen, Tianyi
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author Xiao, Quan
Li, Jindan
Wu, Zhaoxian
Gokmen, Tayfun
Chen, Tianyi
author_facet Xiao, Quan
Li, Jindan
Wu, Zhaoxian
Gokmen, Tayfun
Chen, Tianyi
contents Analog in-memory computing (AIMC) performs computation directly within resistive crossbar arrays, offering an energy-efficient platform to scale large vision and language models. However, non-ideal analog device properties make the training on AIMC devices challenging. In particular, its update asymmetry can induce a systematic drift of weight updates towards a device-specific symmetric point (SP), which typically does not align with the optimum of the training objective. To mitigate this bias, most existing works assume the SP is known and pre-calibrate it to zero before training by setting the reference point as the SP. Nevertheless, calibrating AIMC devices requires costly pulse updates, and residual calibration error can directly degrade training accuracy. In this work, we present the first theoretical characterization of the pulse complexity of SP calibration and the resulting estimation error. We further propose a dynamic SP estimation method that tracks the SP during model training, and establishes its convergence guarantees. In addition, we develop an enhanced variant based on chopping and filtering techniques from digital signal processing. Numerical experiments demonstrate both the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_21321
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Dynamic Symmetric Point Tracking: Tackling Non-ideal Reference in Analog In-memory Training
Xiao, Quan
Li, Jindan
Wu, Zhaoxian
Gokmen, Tayfun
Chen, Tianyi
Machine Learning
Hardware Architecture
Optimization and Control
Analog in-memory computing (AIMC) performs computation directly within resistive crossbar arrays, offering an energy-efficient platform to scale large vision and language models. However, non-ideal analog device properties make the training on AIMC devices challenging. In particular, its update asymmetry can induce a systematic drift of weight updates towards a device-specific symmetric point (SP), which typically does not align with the optimum of the training objective. To mitigate this bias, most existing works assume the SP is known and pre-calibrate it to zero before training by setting the reference point as the SP. Nevertheless, calibrating AIMC devices requires costly pulse updates, and residual calibration error can directly degrade training accuracy. In this work, we present the first theoretical characterization of the pulse complexity of SP calibration and the resulting estimation error. We further propose a dynamic SP estimation method that tracks the SP during model training, and establishes its convergence guarantees. In addition, we develop an enhanced variant based on chopping and filtering techniques from digital signal processing. Numerical experiments demonstrate both the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method.
title Dynamic Symmetric Point Tracking: Tackling Non-ideal Reference in Analog In-memory Training
topic Machine Learning
Hardware Architecture
Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.21321