Energy-Efficient Stochastic Computing (SC) Neural Networks for Internet of Things Devices With Layer-Wise Adjustable Sequence Length (ASL)

Stochastic computing (SC) has emerged as an efficient low-power alternative for deploying neural networks (NNs) in resource-limited scenarios, such as the Internet of Things (IoT). By encoding values as serial bitstreams, SC significantly reduces energy dissipation compared to conventional floating-point (FP) designs; however, further improvement of layer-wise mixed-precision implementation for SC remains unexplored. This paper introduces Adjustable Sequence Length (ASL), a novel scheme that applies mixedprecision concepts specifically to SC NNs. By introducing an operator-norm – based theoretical model, this paper shows that truncation noise can cumulatively propagate through the layers by the estimated amplification factors. An extended sensitivity analysis is presented, using Random Forest (RF) regression to evaluate multi-layer truncation effects and validate the alignment of theoretical predictions with practical network behaviors. To accommodate different application scenarios, this paper proposes two truncation strategies (coarse-grained and fine-grained), which apply diverse sequence length configurations at each layer. Evaluations on a pipelined SC MLP synthesized at 32 nm demonstrate that ASL can reduce energy and latency overheads by up to over 60% with negligible accuracy loss. It confirms the feasibility of the ASL scheme for IoT applications and highlights the distinct advantages of mixed-precision truncation in SC designs.