Introduction to evolvable hardware : a practical guide for designing self-adaptive systems / Garrison W. Greenwood, Andrew M. Tyrrell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Greenwood, Garrison.

Contributor:

Tyrrell, Andy M.

Hazel M. Hussong Fund.

Series:

IEEE series on computational intelligence

IEEE Press series on computational intelligence

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Computer input-output equipment--Design and construction.

Computer input-output equipment.

Evolutionary programming (Computer science).

Physical Description:

xv, 192 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Piscataway, N.J. : IEEE Press ; Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley-Interscience, 2007.

Summary:

Evolvable hardware (EHW) is an exciting new field that brings together reconfigurable hardware, artificial intelligence, and fault tolerance in order to design autonomous systems that can self-adapt to compensate for failures or unanticipated changes in their operational environments. Demonstrating a high degree of reliability in extreme environments, these systems are finding exciting new applications in the military and space exploration fields.

Introduction to Evolvable Hardware: A Practical Guide for Designing Self-Adaptive Systems provides a highly practical introduction for engineers, designers, and managers involved in the development of adaptive, high-reliability systems, while at the same time introducing EHW concepts to new researchers in a structured way. The authors cover the fundamentals of simulated evolution and provide an overview of reconfigurable devices. Real world digital and analog examples illustrate the power and versatility of EHW. Special emphasis is placed on: Fault-tolerant applications, System integration concepts, Real-time design issues. An ideal resource for anyone interested in applied rather than theoretical research in this growing field, the book unifies the existing literature, which has, until now, only been available in journal articles and conference proceedings, and presents it in such a way that readers may begin applying it to their own research and design projects in a relatively short time.

Contents:

1.1 Characteristics of Evolvable Circuits and Systems 1

1.2 Why Evolvable Hardware Is Good (and Bad!) 5

1.3 Technology 6

1.4 Evolvable Hardware vs. Evolved Hardware 9

1.5 Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Evolution 10

1.6 Online vs. Offline Evolution 12

1.7 Evolvable Hardware Applications 13

2 Fundamentals of Evolutionary Computation 17

2.1 What Is an EA? 17

2.2 Components of an EA 18

2.2.1 Representation 18

2.2.2 Variation 21

2.2.3 Evaluation 23

2.2.4 Selection 26

2.2.5 Population 28

2.2.6 Termination Criteria 29

2.3 Getting the EA to Work 29

2.4 Which EA Is Best? 31

3 Reconfigurable Digital Devices 35

3.1 Basic Architectures 35

3.1.1 Programmable Logic Devices 38

3.1.2 Field Programmable Gate Array 39

3.2 Using Reconfigurable Hardware 45

3.2.1 Design Phase 49

3.2.2 Execution Phase 50

3.3 Experimental Results 53

3.4 Functional Overview of the POEtic Architecture 55

3.4.1 Organic Subsystem 59

3.4.2 Description of the Molecules 59

3.4.3 Description of the Routing Layer 62

3.4.4 Dynamic Routing 62

4 Reconfigurable Analog Devices 67

4.1 Basic Architectures 67

4.2 Transistor Arrays 70

4.2.1 The NASA FTPA 72

4.2.2 The Heidelberg FPTA 82

4.3 Analog Arrays 89

5 Putting Evolvable Hardware to Use 95

5.1 Synthesis vs. Adaption 95

5.2 Designing Self-Adaptive Systems 96

5.2.1 Fault Tolerant Systems 96

5.2.2 Real-Time Systems 101

5.3 Creating Fault Tolerant Systems Using EHW 102

5.4 Why Intrinsic Reconfiguration for Online Systems? 103

5.5 Quantifying Intrinsic Reconfiguration Time 104

5.6 Putting Theory Into Practice 108

5.6.1 Minimizing Risk With Anticipated Faults 109

5.6.2 Minimizing Risk With Unanticipated Faults 111

5.6.3 Suggested Practices 113

5.7 Examples of EHW-Based Fault Recovery 113

5.7.1 Population vs. Fitness-Based Designs 114

5.7.2 EHW Compensators 117

5.7.3 Robot Control 125

5.7.4 The POEtic Project 138

5.7.5 Embryo Development 156

6 Future Work 177

6.1 Circuit Synthesis Topics 177

6.1.1 Digital Design 178

6.1.2 Analog Design 184

6.2 Circuit Adaption Topics 185.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Hazel M. Hussong Fund.

ISBN:

0471719773

OCLC:

65468140

Publisher Number:

9780471719779