Sabancı University has opened its Digital Campus in Altunizade, Istanbul with an infrastructure investment, of which there are only a few examples in the world in terms of educational technologies. On its new campus, Sabancı University will host businesspeople and professionals from all over Turkey through its graduate programs tailored to needs of the business world. Thanks to HyFlex technology, which is used for the first time in education in Turkey, students will receive education wherever they are, in a digital environment that fells exactly like individual or classroom learning. The Digital Campus will host an infrastructure through which students can come together, produce and develop projects with representatives of the business world.

The Digital Campus was designed to be the focal point of all the work of Sabancı University in digital field. The opening ceremony of the Digital Campus was attended by Güler Sabancı, Founding Chair of Sabancı University Board of Trustees, and Yusuf Leblebici, President of Sabancı University. Guests of honor, who attended the ceremony online, were Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon, and Pierre Dillenbourg, Associate Vice President for Education at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL).

GÜLER SABANCI: “Even when you look at the Ivy League in the US, you can see only a few of such digital campus examples. Therefore, we enter such a league with our campus.”

Delivering a speech at the opening ceremony, Güler Sabancı, Founding Chair of Sabancı University Board of Trustees said the following: “I would like to start by telling you I am proud on behalf of the University to bring such an innovative and well-equipped campus to life. We started this project before the pandemic. The project was just at its early stage, and was completely renewed with the pandemic. Our Altunizade Digital Campus strongly reflects HyFlex working method, which has entered our lives so quickly and become indispensable now, and we have all the digital infrastructure this method requires.”

Highlighting that Sabancı DX is located on the same campus in Altunizade, Sabancı continued: “Established 4 years ago, DX is a company that leads the digital transformation of Sabancı Holding. It is not by coincidence that Sabancı DX and Sabancı University Digital Campus are neighbors, it is a decision. I am sure that with this campus Sabancı University will be closer to the business world including Sabancı DX. 

I believe we can find solutions to many problems in the world only if we work, create and develop together. I firmly believe in the success triangle. I think we will make one of the best examples of it. We have always made exemplary projects for our country, higher education and overall education in our country. And this one is a new and the first practice for our country. There are only a few examples of such a campus in the world, like Columbia University, with which we have close cooperation. Even when you look at the Ivy League in the US, you can see only a few of such digital campus examples. Therefore, we enter such a league with our campus.

Leblebici: “It will be a meeting point for university-industry collaboration”

During his speech, Prof. Yusuf Leblebici, President of Sabancı University said it was a source of pride for him to inaugurate the Digital Campus, the first and the only example in Turkey, where digital technologies would be applied to the world of education and scientific research. He continued: “As Sabancı University, with our self-confidence derived from leading innovations all the time, we are sure that this campus will make very valuable contributions to the world of education and business.”

Leblebici said “In the light of the principle of ‘creating and developing together’, which has guided us from the beginning, we believe that this campus will play a leading role in shaping the future of university environment as a place where state-of-the-art digital educational technologies will be developed and applied.” He continued: “More than 70 classrooms and amphitheaters on our main campus in Tuzla are currently equipped with all the facilities of digital technologies offered to our students. Altunizade Digital Campus, where we are today, is a laboratory environment in real sense that aims to carry this experience one step further, and promote the use of emerging technologies like HyFlex in the field of education. As Sabancı University, we bring together digital technologies and computer science, at which we are strong and assertive, with our deep-rooted experience in education to lead in this field. The Digital Campus will also offer us the ideal environment to work and develop together with our industry partners, and be a meeting point for university-industry collaboration.”

WERNER VOGELS: “The age of digital learning is upon us.”

During his speech entitled “Developments in technology to enhance students’ learning and experiences”, Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon CTO said: “The age of digital learning is upon us.  Advances in digital technologies provide a range of ways for students to engage like never before. Sabancı’s Digital Campus is the accumulation of several different trends that I see. These will be significant drivers of change that will shape our institutions, and our lives, in the decades to come.” Talking about the use of AI in education, Vogels said: “Imagine using AI as a supplement to marking. This can go way beyond relieving faculty and student fatigue for low-level issues.” Vogels continued as follows: “AI can be used to better understand assignments and lesson delivery to predict when students may be disengaging or falling behind. And how about having a system that uses AI to track students’ progress and automatically flag for instructors and administrators troubling patterns and support early intervention? I believe the kinds of innovations that will happen at the sabancı University Digital Campus will lead to advancements that will be key in developing education, industry, and society as we move into a new era in technology.”

“Pedagogical value of augmented reality is about escaping from reality”

During his speech, Pierre Dillenbourg, Associate Vice President for Education at EPFL said, “Pedagogical value of augmented reality is about escaping from reality.” He continued: “Augmented reality is used in education with the help of simulation. A simulation is done on physical objects by using digital data. Then a desktop test is carried out to check the resilience of this simulation to external loads and issues. Augmented reality has been used more and more in teaching of architecture or engineering.”

ONLINE AND HYBRID EDUCATION INFRASTRUCTURE CAME TOGETHER ON ALTUNİZADE DIGITAL CAMPUS

Sabancı University Altunizade Digital Campus started to operate in 2020-2021 Fall semester. Providing services with its online and hybrid infrastructure, the Digital Campus has 9 hybrid classrooms, 2 professional recording studios, 2 group study rooms, a scientific showroom, a conference hall, rest and dining areas.

Private and public training sessions of Sabancı University Executive Development Unit (EDU), and Non-Thesis Graduate Programs for Professionals are delivered on Altunizade Digital Campus.

A project implemented jointly by Zeynep Gülru Göker and Cenk Özbay, members of Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) is entitled to receive support within the framework of the TÜBİTAK 1001 Program.

The project of Zeynep Gülru Göker and Cenk Özbay is entitled “The Configurations of Smart City and Youth in Turkey: Institutions, Discourses, and Experiences”.

The project aims to put “Smart City” discourse that is commonly used in many metropolitan cities in Turkey and associated policies and practices in a regional and global context enabling for a comparative examination, establish the links between these examples with participatory and inclusive city governance principles, and understand how young people in these cities experience transformations around “Smart City” principle.

The Project will further examine the contribution of policies and practices developed on the basis of “Smart City” to mitigation of social and spatial inequalities created by neoliberal urbanization experience and increase of urban justice, social inclusion and participation.

Within the framework of the research, interviews and surveys will be carried out in Adana, Antalya, Bursa, Eskişehir, Kayseri and Konya. In addition, additional interviews will be carried out in Ankara, İstanbul and İzmir. In the last 2 months of the project, a workshop will be organized at Sabancı University to bring together project stakeholders, and research findings will be presented and discussed. The project will last 18 months and 3 graduate students will take part in the project as research assistants/scholarship students.

Talking about the importance of the project, Zeynep Gülru Göker said the following: “We believe the project has a unique value proposition since it will comprehensively examine different “Smart City” discourses and applications in Turkey, and analyze how and for what urban policy purposes “Smart City” concept is used in the 2020s in Turkey. In this context, it is particularly important to explore how young people, who occupy a special place among city residents as creators and users of technological transformation, experience a smart city and are involved in the transformation of their city to a smart one”.

Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Researcher and EFSUN and SUNUM researcher Dr. Abdolali Khalili Sadaghiani received the TÜBA (Turkish Academy of Sciences) TEKNOFEST Doctorate Science Award.

The applications were evaluated in detail, taking into account special criteria such as thesis content, scientific quality of the applicant and outputs of the thesis,  contributions to applications in the industry in terms of intellectual property  and conversion of innovative methods and technologies into a product. In this context, in the field of Science and Engineering; Dr. Abdolali Khalili Sadaghiani was selected as the winner in the second place with his thesis "Micro/Nano Engineering Techniques for Pool Boiling Heat Transfer" prepared under the supervision of FENS faculty member and SUNUM researcher Prof. Ali Koşar. This study and award are a nice example for the interdisciplinary research being conducted in the Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center (SUNUM) and EFSUN Center of Excellence.

More information can be found using the below link:

http://www.tuba.gov.tr/tr/haberler/akademiden-haberler/tuba-teknofest-doktora-bilim-odulleri-sahiplerini-buldu

Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center (SUNUM) and Nurol Teknoloji signed a cooperation agreement to accelerate research and development work of ballistic protective products. A signing ceremony was held in SUNUM Building for the cooperation agreement, which is expected to contribute to development of our country’s needs in defense industry through domestic and national resources. The ceremony was attended by Selim Baybaş, CEO of Nurol Teknoloji, and Prof. Fazilet Vardar Sukan, Director of Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center and her team.

The cooperation will last for two years and involves development of joint projects access to Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center laboratories by Nurol Teknoloji for its R&D work, joint applications to EU project calls, and widespread cooperation.

Selim Baybaş, CEO of Nurol Teknoloji said: “We believe that I hope this cooperation agreement, will help to develop important and useful R&D projects for our country’s progress in defense industry, for the benefit all our stakeholders.”  

Prof. Fazilet Vardar Sukan, Director of Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center said: “We hope to further develop continuing R&D collaboration with Nurol Teknoloji, towards mutual benefits and large scale applications.”

The 2021 Forum of the Switzerland-based ArtTech Foundation, which brings together international researchers, engineers and scientists in addition to prominent people from the world of culture, arts and economy was held at Sakıp Sabancı Museum in collaboration with Sabancı University. Delivering a speech at the event, President of Sabancı University Professor Yusuf Leblebici said that technology and the arts were two powerful forces re-shaping the world we lived in each day, and when the arts and technology came together, they also helped preserve cultural heritage and unearth richness. Patrick Aebischer, Chairman of ArtTech Foundation likened togetherness of technology and the arts to the ‘future of the new world’

Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum hosted ArtTech 2021 Forum of the Switzerland-based ArtTech Foundation. Held in a hybrid way with the participation of international researchers, designers, authors, engineers and scientists, the forum included discussions on many topics including the role of technology in preservation of works of art in the long-term, how we could benefit from digital technology in cultural and artistic projects, and creation of digital archives of works of art. 

ArtTech builds an ecosystem to explore and test innovative solutions for promising entrepreneurs, and discover new questions. In the ArtTech Forum in Istanbul, Yusuf Leblebici, President of Sabancı University, Patrick Aebischer, Chairman of ArtTech Foundation, and Roland Brun, Deputy Consul General of the Consulate General of Switzerland in Istanbul delivered opening speeches.

LEBLEBİCİ: AS A COUNTRY, WE POSSESS A MASSIVE FORTUNE IN CULTURE AND THE ARTS

During his speech, Sabancı University President Yusuf Leblebici said he was proud to host such an important and international event. He added, “As Sabancı University, we strive to raise awareness of cultural heritage and arts in our country, and help to develop and preserve the arts.” Highlighting that when the arts and technology came together, they helped preserve cultural heritage and unearth richness, Leblebici said the following: Technology and the arts are two powerful forces re-shaping the world we live in each day. They guide our minds to different realms through new discoveries and experiments, opening up new and exciting horizons. They also help preserve cultural heritage and unearth richness. During the panels to be held in this event, many important topics will be covered, from new technology models for protection of cultural heritage, to new structures in performing arts. And I believe that the discussions in this event will help us preserve our country’s historic and artistic heritage to be handed over to future generations. Throughout history, our country was home to many different civilizations, and also the meeting point of those civilizations. We possess a massive fortune from the Göbeklitepe site, dating back to 12 thousand years ago, which led to rewriting of human history, to our complete cultural heritage and all the works of art inspiring the whole world.

Aebischer: “WE AIM TO BRING THE ARTS TO MORE PEOPLE”

Pointing out that Sabancı University was an institution that aspired to build a bridge between technology and science, culture and the arts, Patrick Aebischer, Chairman of ArtTech Foundation said the following: Technology has assumed an increasingly important role in bringing people together with culture and the arts. Technology can also present to us new experiences about the arts. We aim to bring the arts to as many people as possible. Our ArtTech forums aim to do the same. Start-ups and initiatives are the key to this endeavor. Therefore, we have always invited very innovative enterprises that try to become big companies of the future to our Foundation and enabled many people to enjoy culture and the arts from the very beginning. ArtTech Foundation predicted this new world would be upon us. During the pandemic, we have realized how much we depended on technology tools.”

Brun: “We encourage the arts and culture to make the two countries get closer”

Roland Brun, Deputy Consul General of the Consulate General of Switzerland in Istanbul said that cooperation between Turkey and Switzerland, the 7^th biggest foreign investor in Turkey had strengthened further in recent years. Brun said, “The two countries need closer cooperation and further exploitation of synergies that might arise. As the Consulate General, we do not seek synergies only in the field of business, technology, education or research. We also encourage the arts and culture in order to make the two countries get closer. And there are extraordinary places to do this in many cities in Turkey, to start with Istanbul.”

Arditi: “Success results in arrogance, and arrogance, in failure”

Metin Arditi, author, delivered a speech entitled “Why mixing culture with entrepreneurship makes a high-octane fuel”. He touched upon the relation between culture and entrepreneurship. He said the following: Culture is not knowledge, it is not about the facts, it is about sentiments and sharing those sentiments. Culture is not about knowing how to play an instrument, how to write a novel, but listening to a masterpiece, and getting enriched with the sentiments it presents. It is about sharing pain and pleasure of characters in a novel you read, and living their lives." Highlighting that the most important quality of culture was to provide people with a sense of humility, Arditi continued, "Why is this so important? Because success results in arrogance, and arrogance, in failure. A person who is always very successful cannot predict competition."

Director of Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Dr. Nazan Ölçer said the following as she invited Refik Anadol, the world-famous designer to the stage for his speech: “Anadol’s work has been featured at iconic landmarks, museums, and festivals worldwide. He has also received several awards and prizes. His work addresses the challenges and possibilities of what it means to be a human in the age of artificial intelligence and explores how our experience of time and space is evolving now that machines dominate every aspect of our daily lives. He invites his audiences to imagine alternate realities by redefining the functions of architectural elements, creating immersive environments that offer a dynamic new perception of space. Anadol’s site-specific three-dimensional data sculptures and paintings, live audio-visual performances, and immersive installations bring entire buildings to life, offering viewers a new perspective into their world.”

REFİK ANADOL: “THE ARTS SHOULD BE IN STREETS”

During his speech entitled “Creativity at the intersection of humans and machines”, Refik Anadol stated that he was deeply inspired by the works of William Gibson, author of the book Alien and said the following: “Technology has been at the center of our lives for centuries and it develops continuously. As a media artist, I can say that I was first inspired by many things, from the city I was born and grew up in, to the movies I saw as a child. I am truly excited by transposition of architectural structures to virtual reality, and elimination of boundaries of physical spaces and their re-dimensioning by using light and special production software. Visualizing elements like sound and light on top of physical materials with the help of technology to generate new dimensions in time became a new threshold for me and carried my work to a different level. As an artist, I was always thrilled to produce works that were based on the perception of ‘what is real and what is not’. In my opinion, the arts must be everywhere and open to everyone, in other words, the arts do not have to be confined to museums and buildings, they should be in streets. It is very inspiring to collect the data around us and transform it to art. As technology develops, it occupies a growing place in our lives, and machines play a big role in our lives.”

TWO ROUNDTABLE SESSIONS WERE HELD

The first roundtable in the Forum was entitled “Trends and investment in cultural and creative industries”. It was moderated by Muriel Siki, journalist. The panelists included Ian Charles Stewart, co-founder of WiReD Magazine, and Vincent Borel, Vice-President of Logitech. The second roundtable was entitled “Heritage preservation and technologies, focus on Turkey and region” and moderated by Zaki Aslan, Director and Regional Representative of ICCROM for the Arab States. The panelists included Nurçin Kural, Conservation Laboratory Manager, Patrick Michel, Senior Lecturer at the University of Lausanne, Antonio Almagro, Professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Günce Pelin Öçgüden from the Department of Archeology and History of Art of Koç University, and Ertu Erbay , VRchitect from Metaxu.studio.

8 PARALLEL SESSIONS

During the forum, 8 parallel sessions were held. The names of the sessions were “NFTs: A catalyst of change for the art market”, “ArtTech start-ups”, “XR opportunities in Turkey’s cultural sectors”, “New formats in cultural institutions”, “New formats in performing arts”, “Private and public funding for creative industries”, “How online is shaping the next generation of artistic creation, content and communities”, “Digital twin as a new canvas for cultural institutions – iart session”. One of the 8 start-ups that competed during the forum to develop their projects was presented 5^th ArtTech Prize by an international jury.

ASELSAN signed a cooperation agreement with Sabancı University to study Konya Metropolitan Municipality’s roadmap including its smart city strategies towards 2030. A large, interdisciplinary team will take part in this project, first-of-its kind in Turkey, under ASELSAN’s leadership.

In his statement about the subject, Professor Yusuf Leblebici, President of Sabancı University said the following: We are breaking new ground with Konya Metropolitan Municipality and ASELSAN. It is very important that any smart city solution factor in demographical, geographical and sociological characteristics of the city, and be applied in cooperation with local administrations. Therefore, we are proud to contribute to the efforts to create a strategy and a roadmap in order to produce tailor-made smart city applications for municipalities in our country under the leadership of ASELSAN.

Ranking among the top 50 defense industry companies in the world, ASELSAN produces solutions for civil use to contribute to technological and economic independence of our country with its 40 years of know-how, experience, engineering, design, infrastructure, and most importantly, human resources. Carrying out projects in the field of smart cities, ASELSAN is particularly involved in smart public transport systems, smart energy and smart city management systems and continues to cooperate with various municipalities.

Smart city concept, which includes applications and digital solutions such as smart transport and smart energy for more modern and livable cities, has recently attracted great attention in Turkey as in the rest of the world. Cities where residents are involved in decision-making mechanisms, with sustainability secured by an established finance model, and where negative environmental impacts are minimized, will be a priority area for municipalities going forward.

Within the framework of this project, ASELSAN and Sabancı University will work together by bringing together their know-how and capabilities to develop domestic and national solutions. Joint activities in the context of the project include new generation smart city proposals such as smart public transport, smart energy, social programs supported with digital technologies and smart city solutions involving citizens’ engagement in addition to tailor-made, local solutions for Konya.

Süha Orhun Mutluergil, our visiting faculty member at the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Computer Science and Engineering Program receives Amazon Research Award for his project entitled "Linearizability Checking via Symbolic Reasoning".

Süha Orhun Mutluergil became one of the 26 recipients of Amazon Research Awards, which focus on projects related to artificial intelligence (Alexa Fairness in AI) and automatic reasoning (AWS automated reasoning). Recipients of the Spring 2021 Amazon Research Awards include researchers from universities such as Columbia, Yale, MIT, and Stanford.

Working on development of techniques and tools for verification of concurrent programs through mathematical and logical methods, Mutluergil said the following about his project entitled "Linearizability Checking Via Symbolic Reasoning": One of the cloud computing services that are becoming more widespread is distributed databases and data storage services. These services usually keep their users’ data in the form of a key-value binary in data centers located around the world. Copies of data are kept in different locations for quick access and prevention of loss of data in case of any problem.

With the project entitled "Linearizability Checking Via Symbolic Reasoning", which will be supported with Amazon Research Award, we will develop methods and tools based on symbolic reasoning to verify that distributed key-value stores like Amazon S3 fulfill the requirement of linearizability consistency. Linearizability is a consistency model that has been widely accepted and offered to users by many distributed key value stores. Very recently, Amazon S3 has started to support this consistency model. Therefore, methods and tools to be developed within the framework of this project will enable us to check that S3 verifies linearizability requirement accurately, and as there is a control mechanism based on formal definition of linearizability, to see if users have the right expectations from this mechanism of consistency in complex situations.

A beautiful example of industry-university collaboration

Highlighting that his project which was rewarded was a beautiful example of industry-university collaboration, Mutluergil added that undergraduate and graduate students from our University would work for this project. Mutluergil continued: We will both contribute to universal know-how by working on a theoretical issue with academic value and develop a tool that can be used in large-scale systems in real life. Students will have a chance to get to know and contribute to efforts deployed in a big company like Amazon, and interact with company staff members. In addition, they will be able to develop their theoretical knowledge of basics of computer science. The impact created by this project will make it possible to develop cooperation with Amazon in the years to come, and carry out more comprehensive projects based on industry-university collaboration. Therefore, more students will have a chance to interact with Amazon and be involved in joint projects going forward. Our University will have a growing interaction with Amazon and other leading companies and develop joint projects about verification of programs concurrent with mechanical reasoning methods that are becoming more and more important.

Endowed since 2015 to support academics and researchers who are successful in their fields, Amazon Research Awards focus on projects in Amazon's core fields of interest including robotics, machine learning, security and automated reasoning, which are among prominent fields of research in computer science. More than 400 researchers from 150 universities in 28 countries have been rewarded so far. In addition to funding support to rewarded projects and extension of loans for use in AWS cloud computing systems, researchers working for such projects will interact with consultant researchers at Amazon and be able to join Amazon events and training programs.

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Who is Süha Orhun Mutluergil?

Süha Orhun Mutluergil completed his undergraduate and master’s studies at Sabancı University Computer Science and Engineering Program. He completed his PhD at Koç University with his thesis on verification of concurrent programs via refinement proofs, with Dr. Serdar Taşıran as his advisor. Then he worked for two years as a postdoctoral researcher at IRIF (the Research Institute on the Foundations of Computer Science) of Université de Paris. Since October 2020, he has worked as an instructor at Sabancı University, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Computer Science and Engineering Program.

SPARKS 2021: Digital Media online showcase includes the current student works of VAVCD program in Video, 3D Modeling, 3D Animation and Motion Graphics courses. Students learn to visualize their media design and art projects in narrative, conceptual and experimental forms.

Curator and Supervisor: Yoong Wah Alex Wong

SPARKS 2021 Participants: Abad Shams, Alp Cihan, Alp Dinçer, Ayşegül Yapar, Begum Erinç, Berna Yıldıran, Deniz Muftuler, Ece Naz Erülker, Gamar Karimli, İdil Kapıkıran, Ilgın Harput, Kıvanç Sert, Lolwa Al-Mohannadi, Melis Kocer, Nagihan Aydınlık, Naz Kırelli, Nur Nurdoğlu, Selin Memikoğlu, Shakiba Sattar, Sinem Başar, Şevval Tufan, Yavuz Yalçın, Yeraz Arslan, Zeynep Erkman, Zuhal Uz.

SPARKS 2021: Digital Media online showcase includes the current student works of VAVCD program in Video, 3D Modeling, 3D Animation and Motion Graphics courses. Students learn to visualize their media design and art projects in narrative, conceptual and experimental forms. The main aim is to have our students familiarize with digital media study, production, workflow and platforms while taking versatile courses in the program. SPARKS 2021, Digital Media showcase intents to share and translate each students’ unrestrained imagination into images in their own unique way, it is a showcase that represents - communication, collaboration and exchange of views, and most importantly, respecting individual uniqueness, creativity and freedom of expression.

Click to discover the SPARKS 2021.

Alumnus of Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Computer Science and Engineering Program, Hasan Ijaz talked to us about his projects with ELKON in the framework of the Industry-Oriented Projects ENS 491 Graduation Program. You can also experience professional life before you graduate thanks to the Industry-Oriented Projects ENS 491 Program.

Which project did you carry out, and with which company? Can you talk to us about your project?

I worked on a project offered by ELKON to Sabancı. The project's title was "New Generation Power and Energy Management System for Autonomous Vessel Propulsion System". We had to design and implement an AI/deep learning-based system that would take parameters in real-time, process and optimize these parameters, and suggest to the captain how to operate the vessel.

Can you talk about your team and the way you worked together?

All of the project work was accomplished as a team where we met weekly with the project supervisors, ELKON supervisor, and 2 to 3 times with the team. We decided on a free slot within the team and worked together on Zoom. Online/remote work allowed has proven to be super effective by contributing to the project while sitting in the comfort of our home.

What were the benefits of attending and experiencing the Industry-Oriented Projects ENS 491 Program?

I would recommend an industry-based project to all students since you get to learn from the industry experts along with the professors at the university. You get to experience professional mentorship. You get to learn the company environment as well, thanks to the Industry-Oriented Projects ENS 491.

A project coordinated by Ömer Ceylan, researcher at Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS) is entitled to receive support within the framework of the TÜBİTAK 1001 Program, The Scientific and Technological Research Projects Funding Program.

The project is entitled “Development of Process, Voltage and Temperature (PVT) Variation Aware Highly Energy-Efficient Deep Neural Networks (DNN) with High Inference Accuracy for Internet-of-Things (IoT) Applications.

Providing information about the aim of the project, Ömer Ceylan said the following: The aim of the project is to develop a timing error probability model that factors in process, voltage and temperature (PVT) variations to analyze and develop deep neural networks for energy-efficient IoT applications, and then build a platform that makes  possible to design deep neural networks without having to go through the lengthy top-to-bottom (network level, architectural level, circuit level and even quantization level) simulations. By using this platform, two prototype integrated circuits composed of  multiplier-accumulator (MAC) units first in 64x64 format, and then in 256x256 format will be fabricated using 65 nm CMOS technology, and the capabilities of the platform will be verified on these integrated circuits. Therefore, the goal of the project is to build a hardware development platform for energy-efficient deep neural networks where inference accuracy is not reduced (with maximum allowable reduction of 2%), factoring in PVT variations in case of low supply voltage, and to do this faster (100X faster than traditional gate-level simulations) by using statistical timing error models that we developed on our own and without requiring lengthy simulations. The platform that we develop will not be an alternative to the other techniques in use, instead, it can be used with them; it will rather be a cross-layer optimization platform that will make it possible to make a quick evaluation of the other techniques all together (various parameters such as the deep neural network to be used, type of data, data bit width, number of layers to be used in the deep neural network etc.).  Efforts within the framework of the project will close an important gap in the literature by reaching a high level of inference accuracy in an energy-efficient way, factoring in all PVT variations, and using the most accurate timing error model, and doing all this very fast compared to classical gate-level simulations.”. Erdinç Öztürk and Öznur Taştan, faculty members of FENS are involved in the project as researchers. Emre Salman from Stony Brook University  is advisor to the project.

Talking about the importance of the project, Ömer Ceylan said the following: Artificial intelligence is gaining new areas of application and growing in importance each day. It is used in healthcare for diagnosis, unmanned aerial vehicles, cars, industrial automation systems, call centers and many other businesses. Internet of Things (IoT) applications also have a growing field of application; data can be collected through sensors in locations far from the center, such data can be processed either on-site for immediate action or forwarded to a cloud, where processing is completed for further action. To enhance effectiveness of IoT applications, AI elements such as machine learning and deep learning are used in many IoT applications. Integration of deep learning method with mobile, wearable devices and other devices with edge computing and processing capabilities has been very popular in recent years. Particularly as a method frequently used in classification and pattern recognition applications, deep learning has attracted attention in recent years. In this way, opportunities offered by artificial intelligence can also be used in locations far from the center, and field of application of artificial intelligence keeps growing. In some applications, it is required to make right decisions as soon as possible, process data immediately and act according to the result of the operation. In such applications, it is necessary to complete the operations within a period of time shorter than the time it would take to send data to a center, wait for the data to be processed there, and then be sent back. In addition to shorten delays in internet of things applications, reducing band width, improving energy efficiency, and security are other requirements that justify relevance of on-site/edge computing and decision-making. Most of the IoT applications are devices which lack of a continuous source of energy, and in some cases, have to generate their own energy, therefore, they have to be energy-efficient. So, energy efficiency is of great importance for the use of deep neural networks, which have a widespread field of application, in IoT devices.

Development of energy-efficient and high-performance, quick deep neural network devices with high inference accuracy requires a cross-layer approach. These layers start at the circuit level, and go up to architectural and  network levels. It is impossible to design and develop these layers independently from each other. The layers are strictly interconnected. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a responsive platform that considers all the layers. However, it takes a very long time to develop since it requires to optimize a very high number of parameters simultaneously in case the current gate-level digital circuit simulations are used, which impractical. Therefore, it is essential to establish a simulation infrastructure to accelerate this process, and use a model accordingly. For that purpose, a probability-based timing error prediction model will be developed to facilitate quick cross-layer simulation within the framework of this project. This model factors in PVT variations and detects timing errors accurately. The timing errors thus detected will be notified to the deep neural network as errors to see how the deep neural network works in such a case, and how inference accuracy will be impacted. Data inferred from this process will be used to correct the errors that must be corrected, and any other errors which can be tolerated by the deep neural network will be left uncorrected. Thanks to a platform which will operate in this way, it will be possible to develop deep neural networks with a cross-layer approach quickly. The platform will be used to develop energy efficient deep neural network hardware for use in IoT devices with an approach that uses highly accurate timing error models factoring in PVT variations in case of low supply voltage, hencemakes it possible to use different supply voltages for different layers of the deep neural network.