180 likes | 284 Views
Emerging Technologies of Computation. Montek Singh COMP790-084 Nov 29, 2011. Today: Brownian Circuits. What is Brownian motion? Brownian Cellular Automata Asynchronous Cellular Automata Mapping Circuits to Brownian Cellular Automata Basic building blocks Higher-level building blocks
E N D
Emerging Technologies of Computation Montek Singh COMP790-084 Nov 29, 2011
Today: Brownian Circuits • What is Brownian motion? • Brownian Cellular Automata • Asynchronous Cellular Automata • Mapping Circuits to Brownian Cellular Automata • Basic building blocks • Higher-level building blocks • Benefits and Challenges
Review of Cellular Automata • Neighborhood determines a cell’s next state • Timing: • synchronous • asynchronous
Brownian Cellular Automata • Transition rules example:
Linear “signal” propagation • Reversible: both directions possible • hence: “Brownian”
Configuration 1: A “Hub” • Signal comes in from any of 3 directions • goes out on any of 3 directions • possibly same one!
Configuration 2: A “Cjoin” • 2 horizontal signals 2 vertical signals
What’s a Ratchet? • Allow one-way motion only • reverse rotation is blocked • Electronic equivalent = diode
Configuration 3: Ratchet • Allows one-way propagation only
Summary: 3 basic configurations • Symbolic representation:
What do we need? • We need these 3 useful higher-level blocks:
Benefits and Challenges • Possible to get around the timing/clocking problem • use asynchronous cellular automata • Brownian motion desirable • for backtracking • possibly for exploring solution space?? • How to implement? • still in its infancy • harness noise and fluctuations