Memristor based equation solver could cut energy used by 100 times for longer lasting smartphones | NextBigFuture.com

Up until now small variations in the current passing through a memristor device was not precise enough for numerical calculations. The Nanoelectronics group, University of Michigan, got around this problem by digitizing the current outputs—defining current ranges as specific bit values (i.e., 0 or 1). The team was also able to map large mathematical problems into smaller blocks within the array, improving the efficiency and flexibility of the system. Computers with these new blocks, which the researchers call “memory-processing units,” could be particularly useful for implementing machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms. They are also well suited to tasks that