Explorations in design space: unconventional electronics design through artificial evolution
Explorations in design space: unconventional electronics design through artificial evolution
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DOI：
10.1109/4235.788489
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发表时间：
1999-09
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
A. Thompson;P. Layzell;R. Zebulum
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
A. Thompson;P. Layzell;R. Zebulum
提出了三个假设。首先，在可能的电子电路的“设计空间”中，传统的设计方法在受限的区域内工作，从来没有考虑到大部分整体。其次，进化算法可以探索一些超出常规方法范围的区域，这增加了找到更好设计的可能性。第三，进化算法实际上可以产生超出传统方法范围的设计，而且在某种意义上更好。发展了一种用于机器人的可重构硬件控制器，使用具有和不具有正统设计约束的传统体系结构。在不受约束的情况下，进化利用了硬件的增强能力。音调鉴别器电路是在没有约束的情况下在FPGA上发展的，导致了一种与传统设计和分析不同的结构和动力学。前两个假设是正确的。进化可以探索电子媒介自然存在的形式和过程，非行为需求可以集成到这个设计过程中，例如容错。提出了一种进化电路健壮性的策略，该策略适合于任务、电路和介质。讨论了使研究进展成为可能的硬件和软件工具。第三个假设是一个很好的可行假设：实用但从根本上非传统的进化电路就在眼前。
Three hypotheses are formulated. First, in the "design space" of possible electronic circuits, conventional design methods work within constrained regions, never considering most of the whole. Second, evolutionary algorithms can explore some of the regions beyond the scope of contentional methods, raising the possibility that better designs can be found. Third, evolutionary algorithms can in practice produce designs that are beyond the scope of conventional methods, and that are in some sense better. A reconfigurable hardware controller for a robot is evolved, using a conventional architecture with and without orthodox design constraints. In the unconstrained case, evolution exploited the enhanced capabilities of the hardware. A tone discriminator circuit is evolved on an FPGA without constraints, resulting in a structure and dynamics that are foreign to conventional design and analysis. The first two hypotheses are true. Evolution can explore the forms and processes that are natural to the electronic medium, and nonbehavioral requirements can be integrated into this design process, such as fault tolerance. A strategy to evolve circuit robustness tailored to the task, the circuit, and the medium, is presented. Hardware and software tools enabling research progress are discussed. The third hypothesis is a good working one: practically useful but radically unconventional evolved circuits are in sight.