# One-Spike SNN: Single-Spike Phase Coding with Base Manipulation for ANN-to-SNN Conversion Loss Minimization

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.08786 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.08786/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 14 of its 33 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 30 Jan 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 14 of 14)

- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [Semi-Supervised Classification with Graph Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.02907/) (2016)
- [Graph Convolutional Networks for Text Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.05679/) (2018)
- [Deep Residual Learning in Spiking Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.04159/) (2021)
- [Going Deeper With Directly-Trained Larger Spiking Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.05280/) (2020)
- [Multimodal Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.04856/) (2023)
- [Spiking-YOLO: Spiking Neural Network for Energy-Efficient Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.06530/) (2019)
- [RMP-SNN: Residual Membrane Potential Neuron for Enabling Deeper High-Accuracy and Low-Latency Spiking Neural Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.01811/) (2020)
- [Optimal Conversion of Conventional Artificial Neural Networks to Spiking Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00476/) (2021)
- [Optimal ANN-SNN Conversion for High-accuracy and Ultra-low-latency Spiking Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.04347/) (2023)
- [Optimal ANN-SNN Conversion for Fast and Accurate Inference in Deep Spiking Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.11654/) (2021)
- [T2FSNN: Deep Spiking Neural Networks with Time-to-first-spike Coding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.11741/) (2020)
- [A Time-to-first-spike Coding and Conversion Aware Training for Energy-Efficient Deep Spiking Neural Network Processor Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.04494/) (2022)
- [Efficient Spiking Neural Networks with Logarithmic Temporal Coding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.04233/) (2018)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Ternary Spike-based Neuromorphic Signal Processing System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.05310/) (2024)
- [snnTrans-DHZ: A Lightweight Spiking Neural Network Architecture for Underwater Image Dehazing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.11482/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

As spiking neural networks (SNNs) are event-driven, energy efficiency is higher than conventional artificial neural networks (ANNs). Since SNN delivers data through discrete spikes, it is difficult to use gradient methods for training, limiting its accuracy. To keep the accuracy of SNNs similar to ANN counterparts, pre-trained ANNs are converted to SNNs (ANN-to-SNN conversion). During the conversion, encoding activations of ANNs to a set of spikes in SNNs is crucial for minimizing the conversion loss. In this work, we propose a single-spike phase coding as an encoding scheme that minimizes the number of spikes to transfer data between SNN layers. To minimize the encoding error due to single-spike approximation in phase coding, threshold shift and base manipulation are proposed. Without any additional retraining or architectural constraints on ANNs, the proposed conversion method does not lose inference accuracy (0.58% on average) verified on three convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with CIFAR and ImageNet datasets.In addition, graph convolutional networks (GCNs) are converted to SNNs successfully with an average accuracy loss of 0.90%.Most importantly, the energy efficiency of our SNN improves by 4.6~17.3 X compared to the ANN baseline.