Pattern-matching algorithms developer BrainTech Inc, Scottsdale, Arizona has now implemented its patented recognition technology in a chip called the BrainTron chip, which is claimed to process pattern-matching tasks about 100 times faster than current software methods. It is designed to be packaged with a small set of fast memory chips and a bus interface chip and offered as an add-on board for personal computers. BrainTech claims its recognition technology is based on the bio-chemical processes of the human brain concerned with recognising things. Like the brain, the algorithm is inherently parallel, and the boards can be ganged together to enhance pattern-matching performance. BrainTron version 1.0FPGA is currently available in limited quantities. It is configured as an add-on board compatible with PCI bus architecture and costs $5,000; a three-processor system is $6,600 and a five-processor system is $7,500. They come bundled with a programmer’s toolkit including device drivers, low-level debuggers, programmer’s applications interface, a graphical program manager, sample data and a demonstration application. Target applications include handwriting and speech recognition, smart analysis of financial data and military signal recognition, BrianTech suggested.
