Evolvable Hardware: Brief introduction to the module

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Evolvable HardwareBrief introduction to the
module

• Andy Tyrrell
• Department of Electronics
• B005 - amt_at_ohm.york.ac.uk

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Evolution
http//www.oneonta.edu/anthro/anth130/cartoons.ht
ml
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Module Content

• This module
• presents the fundamentals of EHW technology
• reviews existing and previews future
  reconfigurable devices
• illustrates operation with evolution-guided
  design and hardware self-configuration
  experiments,
• provides application examples,
• practical fun! and
• covers specific difficulties and solutions for
  evolving complex systems and doing evolution with
  hardware in the loop.

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What is Evolvable Hardware?
Evolvable Hardware (EHW) is a new field at the
confluence of Automatic Design, Artificial
Intelligence, Reconfigurable Hardware, and
Autonomous Systems.
Reconfigurable HW
Self-reconfigurable, evolvable
Automated Design
Artificial/Computational Intelligence CS/Math/Eng
Autonomous Systems
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Why Evolvable Hardware?

• Its main objective is the development of flexible
  and survivable systems that are capable of
  autonomous self-configuration, self-tuning, and
  self-repair.
• That can adaptively change through
  reconfiguration to provide appropriate signal
  processing, sensing and control - as examples, as
  well as survival in the presence of faults and
  degradation due to changing environments.
• EHW techniques have already proven successful in
  automated design, automated calibration and
  tuning, and in-field adaptation of hardware
  systems, sensing, control and robotics.
• Assist in design of electronic systems.

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How Evolvable Hardware?
Analogue
Intrinsic hardware
Extrinsic software
Digital
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Autonomous systems

• Beyond physical reach to repair, beyond (or
  designed for absence of) communications
• Increasing degree of autonomy
• Unmanned Vehicles (UAV)
• Deployed sensing systems
• Space systems
• Places where humans cant do it efficiently,
• economically, etc.

Global Hawk
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COTS digital reconfigurable hardware
PLA ? FPGA ? Virtex, VirtexII, VirtexPro
(Xilinx)
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COTS analogue reconfigurable hardware
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Programmable Transistor Array Cell - FPTA2
Cell Schematic
Chip Architecture
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A new generation of hardware
A third generation hardware in terms of
flexibility and fault tolerance
Flexibility, fault-tolerance
Self-reconfigurable, evolvable
Automated Design
Artificial/Computational Intelligence
Reconfigurable
Fixed HW
Generation
1st
3rd
2nd
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Design to be evolved
The design to be evolved could be a program,
model of hardware or the hardware itself
Program
Model of Hardware
Physical Hardware
0 WhileTooFarFromWall 1 Do2 2
MoveForward 3 Do2 4 WhileInCoridorRange
5 TurnAwayFromClosestWall 6
WhileInCoridorRange 7 Do2 8
TurnParallelToClosestWall 9 MoveForward
HDL code
SPICE Netlist
vdd 20 0 DC 5.0V vin 6 0 DC
2.5v m1 1 1 20 20 PMOS LL1
WW1 m2 3 1 2 20 PMOS LL2
WW2
Evolutionary is Revolutionary!
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Labs!
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Fundamental open questions

• Can we evolve artificial systems in similar ways
  natural systems evolve?
• Advantages and disadvantages.
• How can we build devices/HW that evolve
  autonomously?
• Can we seamlessly embed the guiding mechanism
  for evolution with the morphing system (i.e. the
  goals - the goodness)?
• How does EHW scale-up?
• Can we use evolution to obtain intelligent
  systems, human competitive (and beyond)
  intelligence?