Communications of the ACM
Computing in the Net of Possibilities
A new information processing principle has been developed by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization.
A new information processing principle has been developed by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization.
A complex network computer has the capability of arbitrary calculation execution under completely different conditions than a conventional computer by virtue of it not being based on a binary system of zeros and ones, and it could be built from any oscillating system, in principle. In systems comprised of coupled oscillating elements, the saddle points, or states of the whole system that are stable in some respects and unstable in others, form a network.
In response to an outside disruption that unbalances a specific saddle point, the entire system shifts to another one. The nature of the disruption determines which path the system takes in the net of possible states. The researchers demonstrated that a complete logic system can be supported on this platform, but unlike a classical computer that uses a single element to perform a specific logical operation, the operation in their system transpires in the whole network concurrently. Even relatively small systems can carry out an incredible large number of operations with a complex computer network.
From Max Planck Gessellschaft
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Abstracts Copyright © 2012 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
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