  Spiking neural networks (SNNs) have garnered a great amount of interest for
supervised and unsupervised learning applications. This paper deals with the
problem of training multi-layer feedforward SNNs. The non-linear
integrate-and-fire dynamics employed by spiking neurons make it difficult to
train SNNs to generate desired spike trains in response to a given input. To
tackle this, first the problem of training a multi-layer SNN is formulated as
an optimization problem such that its objective function is based on the
deviation in membrane potential rather than the spike arrival instants. Then,
an optimization method named Normalized Approximate Descent (NormAD),
hand-crafted for such non-convex optimization problems, is employed to derive
the iterative synaptic weight update rule. Next, it is reformulated to
efficiently train multi-layer SNNs, and is shown to be effectively performing
spatio-temporal error backpropagation. The learning rule is validated by
training $2$-layer SNNs to solve a spike based formulation of the XOR problem
as well as training $3$-layer SNNs for generic spike based training problems.
Thus, the new algorithm is a key step towards building deep spiking neural
networks capable of efficient event-triggered learning.
