Reaction-Diffusion Computers

The book introduces a hot topic of novel and emerging computing paradigms and architectures -computation by travelling waves in reaction-diffusion media. A reaction-diffusion computer is a massively parallel computing device, where the micro-volumes of the chemical medium act as elementary few-bit processors, and chemical species diffuse and react in parallel. In the reaction-diffusion computer both the data and the results of the computation are encoded as concentration profiles of the reagents, or local disturbances of concentrations, whilst the computation per se is performed via the spreading and interaction of waves caused by the local disturbances. The monograph brings together results of a decade-long study into designing experimental and simulated prototypes of reaction-diffusion computing devices for image processing, path planning, robot navigation, computational geometry, logics and artificial intelligence. The book is unique because it gives a comprehensive presentation of the theoretical and experimental foundations, and cutting-edge computation techniques, chemical laboratory experimental setups and hardware implementation technology employed in the development of novel nature-inspired computing devices. Key Features: - Non-classical and fresh approach to theory of computation. - In depth exploration of novel and emerging paradigms of nature-inspired computing. - Simple to understand cellular-automata models will help readers/students to design their own computational experiments to advance ideas and concepts described in the book . - Detailed description of receipts and experimental setups of chemical laboratory reaction-diffusion processors will make the book an invaluable resource in practical studies of non-classical and nature-inspired computing architectures . - Step by step explanations of VLSI reaction-diffusion circuits will help students to design their own types of wave-based processors. Key Features: - Non-classical and fresh approach to theory of computation. - In depth exploration of novel and emerging paradigms of nature-inspired computing. - Simple to understand cellular-automata models will help readers/students to design their own computational experiments to advance ideas and concepts described in the book . - Detailed description of receipts and experimental setups of chemical laboratory reaction-diffusion processors will make the book an invaluable resource in practical studies of non-classical and nature-inspired computing architectures . - Step by step explanations of VLSI reaction-diffusion circuits will help students to design their own types of wave-based processors The book introduces a hot topic of novel and emerging computing paradigms and architectures -computation by travelling waves in reaction-diffusion media. A reaction-diffusion computer is a massively parallel computing device, where the micro-volumes of the chemical medium act as elementary few-bit processors, and chemical species diffuse and react in parallel. In the reaction-diffusion computer both the data and the results of the computation are encoded as concentration profiles of the reagents, or local disturbances of concentrations, whilst the computation per se is performed via the spreading and interaction of waves caused by the local disturbances. The monograph brings together results of a decade-long study into designing experimental and simulated prototypes of reaction-diffusion computing devices for image processing, path planning, robot navigation, computational geometry, logics and artificial intelligence. The book is unique because it gives a comprehensive presentation of the theoretical and experimental foundations, and cutting-edge computation techniques, chemical laboratory experimental setups and hardware implementation technology employed in the development of novel nature-inspired computing devices.

Key Features:

- Non-classical and fresh approach to theory of computation.
- In depth exploration of novel and emerging paradigms of nature-inspired computing.
- Simple to understand cellular-automata models will help readers/students to design their own computational experiments to advance ideas and concepts described in the book .
- Detailed description of receipts and experimental setups of chemical laboratory reaction-diffusion processors will make the book an invaluable resource in practical studies of non-classical and nature-inspired computing architectures .
- Step by step explanations of VLSI reaction-diffusion circuits will help students to design their own types of wave-based processors.

Key Features:

- Non-classical and fresh approach to theory of computation.
- In depth exploration of novel and emerging paradigms of nature-inspired computing.
- Simple to understand cellular-automata models will help readers/students to design their own computational experiments to advance ideas and concepts described in the book .
- Detailed description of receipts and experimental setups of chemical laboratory reaction-diffusion processors will make the book an invaluable resource in practical studies of non-classical and nature-inspired computing architectures .
- Step by step explanations of VLSI reaction-diffusion circuits will help students to design their own types of wave-based processors. Join the authors on a journey where they describe the possibility of computers composed of nothing more than chemicals. Unlikely as it sounds, the book introduces the topic of 'reaction-diffusion computing', a topic which in time could revolutionise computing and robotics.Rather than a theoretical treatise, the book is crammed with practical examples and colourful images encompassing over ten years of work in this field. The authors are serious about their science but this doesn't stop them having fun illustrating the potential of their ideas and thus the book should appeal to a wide audience. Within the pages readers will find amongst other things robots who carry their own 'chemical brains' and computers that operate via the collision of 'chemical bullets'.Dovetailed perfectly with the practical chemical approach is the use of the reaction-diffusion dynamics of chemical and natural systems to design new types of parallel silicon chips. A multitude of these nature-inspired chips and their production methods are described.