Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
highest possible logical complexity of the elementary operations that optimally
meet the challenges of intelligent decisions.
The basis of high efficiency of the reaction-diffusion devices is constituted by
their inherent characteristics of information processing.
8.2.1.1 High Natural Parallelism
A distributed reaction-diffusion system is a continuous biochemical, chemical, or
physical medium where in each microvolume information processing by the same
algorithm takes place in parallel (simultaneously). The size of a typical
microvolume is in the order of the diffusion length, i.e., 0.01-0.1 mm. Therefore,
the most primitive device—a flat layer of the medium (with the linear dimensions of
100 by 100 mm and the thickness of 1 mm)—corresponds to the degree of
parallelism 10
8
-10
6
. The degree of parallelism is dramatically higher in three-
dimensional devices.
8.2.1.2 Nonlinear Mechanisms of Information Processing
Nonlinear mechanisms of the dynamics of the distributed reaction-diffusion sys-
tems enable them to perform complex logical operations as elementary operations,
and not simple binary operations, as in the modern digital computers.
Suppose, for example, that our task is to detect the contour of a sufficiently
simple geometric shape on a grid of 10
3
10
3
elements. The numerical technique
of contour detection implemented on a modern personal computer implies that in a
general case, it is necessary to perform 3-5 floating-point operations in each point
of the grid. Together, this makes 3
10
6
elementary operations that are
equivalent to one elementary operation of a reaction-diffusion medium.
The number of operations of q digital computer increases sharply with the
complication of the contour shape, which requires a transition to a more narrow-
meshed grid 10
4
10
6
-5
10
5
, etc.
The fundamental advantage of the reaction-diffusion medium in this case is that
increased complexity of the contour may necessitate an increase of the linear
dimensions of the medium (the resolution of the medium does not change), but
the time of contour detection remains the same.
10
4
,10
5
8.2.1.3 Speed of Reaction-Diffusion Information Processing Devices
Execution time of elementary operations currently used by biochemical and chem-
ical media is rather large, as well as that of biological organisms which operate on
similar information principles. Nevertheless, the high logical complexity of the
elementary operations executed by media dramatically increases computing
capabilities.
