BORE: Energy-Efficient Banded Vector Similarity Search with Optimized Range Encoding for Memory-Augmented Neural Network

Memory-augmented neural networks (MANNs) in-corporate external memories to address the significant issue of catastrophic forgetting in few-shot learning applications. MANNs rely on vector similarity search (VSS), which incurs substantial energy and computational overhead due to frequent data transfers and complex cosine similarity calculations. To tackle these challenges, prior research has proposed adopting ternary content addressable memories (TCAMs) for parallel VSS within memory. One promising approach is to use Exact-Match TCAM (EX-TCAM) with range encoding to find the vector with the minimum
$L_{\infty}$
distance, avoiding the need for sensing circuit modifications as required by Best-Match TCAM (Best-TCAM), However, this method demands multiple search iterations and longer code words, limiting its practicality. In this paper, we propose an energy-efficient EX-TCAM-based design called BORE. BORE skips redundant search iterations and reduces code word length through performing Banded
$L_{\infty}$
distance search with Optimized Range Encoding. Additionally, we consider the characteristics of the similarity metric and develop a distance-based training mechanism aimed at improving classification accuracy. Simulation results demonstrate that BORE enhances energy efficiency by
$9.35\times$
to
$11.84\times$
and accuracy by 2.95 % to 4.69 % compared to previous EX-TCAM-based approaches. Furthermore, BORE improves energy efficiency by
$1.04\times$
to
$1.63\times$
over prior works of Best-TCAM-based VSS.