Nanosecond machine learning event classification with boosted decision trees in FPGA for high energy physics

Abstract

We present a novel implementation of classification using the machine learning / artificial intelligence method called boosted decision trees (BDT) on field programmable gate arrays (FPGA). The firmware implementation of binary classification requiring 100 training trees with a maximum depth of 4 using four input variables gives a latency value of about 10 ns, independent of the clock speed from 100 to 320 MHz in our setup. The low timing values are achieved by restructuring the BDT layout and reconfiguring its parameters. The FPGA resource utilization is also kept low at a range from 0.01% to 0.2% in our setup. A software package called fwXmachina achieves this implementation. Our intended user is an expert of custom electronics-based trigger systems in high energy physics experiments or anyone that needs decisions at the lowest latency values for real-time event classification. Two problems from high energy physics are considered, in the separation of electrons vs. photons and in the selection of vector boson fusion-produced Higgs bosons vs. the rejection of the multijet processes.

66 pages, 27 figures, 13 tables, JINST version

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Cited by in corpus (10)

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• Online-compatible Unsupervised Non-resonant Anomaly Detection
• Nanosecond anomaly detection with decision trees and real-time application to exotic Higgs decays
• Ephemeral Learning -- Augmenting Triggers with Online-Trained Normalizing Flows
• Nanosecond machine learning regression with deep boosted decision trees in FPGA for high energy physics
• Ultrafast jet classification on FPGAs for the HL-LHC
• Development of a resource-efficient FPGA-based neural network regression model for the ATLAS muon trigger upgrades
• BitHEP -- The Limits of Low-Precision ML in HEP
• Nanosecond hardware regression trees in FPGA at the LHC
• Illuminating all-hadronic final states with a photon: Exotic decays of the Higgs boson to four bottom quarks in vector boson fusion plus gamma at hadron colliders