Spin Inspired Representations

非传统计算（UComp）设备基于各种各样的物理衬底，从原子开关网络到碳纳米管，从液晶到黏菌。UComp的一个目标是利用每个衬底的属性来计算某种程度上比它的经典对应物“更好”。这在可以更容易地嵌入/体现在更大系统中的设备中可能更快或具有更少的功率。要做到这一点，重要的是要有一个计算模型，适合“自然”的材料，而不是试图强加一个不适当的模型，打击其实施。开发这些新的底物迫切需要一个原则性的一般方法来确定这样的自然模型。表示是软件开发的核心：设计正确的表示和对它的操作（表示的代数），任务就完成了一半。所有经典的计算表示，无论语言有多高级（字符串、数组、列表、图形、结构、字典、数据库......），最后归结为基本单位位，并进行按位运算。在其他计算领域，这个基本单位可能不同：量子计算中的量子比特;连续模拟计算中的真实的数;其他UComp衬底中的其他低级表示。然而，UComp领域目前研究不足，因此开发不足的高阶表示，使其编程更接近于“汇编语言”级别，所有问题都缺乏抽象性和可用性。这阻碍了新型计算材料的应用。SpInspired将开发一种方法来发现和利用材料计算的良好自然计算模型，以及确定适当的基本单位，（以便它们可以组成和组合成更高阶的表示），并且可以有效地物理实现（因此它们可以在非常规领域和应用中作为强大的组合器件来开发）。我们将通过利用两个不同的范例“沙坑”系统-核磁共振光谱学的良好特征丰富的物理过程，和病态特征的碳纳米管无序材料-来指导通用框架的开发。成功的项目成果将是一个通用的UComp开发框架，该框架将为不同材料计算系统的表征、分析和比较建立黄金标准。目前还不存在这样的框架，这就大大限制了目前在这一领域开展的研究的范围和一般利用，因为研究结果是临时性的，而且是针对具体材料的。

Unconventional computing (UComp) devices are based on a diverse range of physical substrates, from atomic switch networks to carbon nanotubes, from liquid crystals to slime moulds. One goal of UComp is to exploit the properties of each substrates to compute somehow "better'' than its classical counterpart. This might be faster, or with less power, of in a device that can be more easily embedded/embodied in a larger system. To do so, it is important to have a computational model that fits "naturally'' on the material, rather than attempt to impose an inappropriate model that fights its implementation. Exploitation of these novel substrates desperately needs a principled general methodology for determining such natural models. Representation is central to software development: design the correct representation and operations on it (the algebra of the representation), and the task is half done. All classical computing representations, no matter how high level the language (strings, arrays, lists, graphs, structures, dictionaries, databases, ...), ultimately reduce to the basic unit of the bit, and bitwise operations. In other computational domains, this basic unit may be different: the qubit in quantum computing; the real number in continuous analogue computing; other low level representations in other UComp substrates. However, UComp fields currently have under-researched and therefore under-developed higher-order representations, leaving their programming closer to an "assembly language'' level, with all its problems of lack of abstraction and usability. This is holding back the application of novel computational materials.SpInspired will develop a methodology for discovering and exploiting good natural computational models of material computing, and for determining appropriate basic units that are both mathematically rich (so that they can be composed and combined into higher order representations) and efficiently physically realisable (so that they can be exploited as powerful combinational devices in unconventional domains and applications). We will do so by exploiting two diverse exemplar "sandpit" systems -- the well-characterised rich physical process of NMR spectroscopy, and ill-characterised carbon nanotube disordered material -- to guide the generic framework development. The successful project outcome will be a generic UComp development framework that will establish the gold standard for characterisation, analysis and comparison of different in materio computing systems. No such framework currently exists, which places a significant limitation of scope and general exploitation of current research undertaken in this field, as results are ad hoc and material-specific.