HETRI: Heterogeneous Ising Multiprocessing

Abstract: Ising machines are effective solvers for complex combinatorial optimization problems. The idea is mapping the optimal solution(s) to a combinatorial optimization problem to the minimum energy state(s) of a physical system, which naturally converges to a minimum energy state upon perturbance. The underlying mathematical abstraction, the Ising model, can capture the dynamic behavior of different physical systems by mapping each problem variable to a spin which can interact with other spins. Ising model as a mathematical abstraction can be mapped to hardware using traditional devices. In this paper we instead focus on Ising machines which represent a network of physical spins directly implemented in hardware using, e.g., quantum bits or electronic oscillators. To eliminate the scalability bottleneck due to the mismatch in problem vs. Ising machine size and connectivity, in this paper we make the case for HETRI: Heterogeneous Ising Multiprocessing. HETRI organizes the maximum number of physical spins that the underlying technology supports in Ising cores; and multiple independent Ising cores, in Ising chips. Ising cores in a chip feature different inter-spin connectivity or spin counts to match the problem characteristics. We provide a detailed design space exploration and quantify the performance in terms of time or energy to solution and solution accuracy with respect to homogeneous alternatives under the very same hardware budget and considering the very same spin technology.