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Collision-free path planning in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky medium assisted by a cellular automaton

Adamatzky, Andrew; de Lacy Costello, Ben

Authors



Abstract

We offer a new approach to computing a shortest collision-free path in a space containing obstacles, using an experimental chemical processor, based on the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. The chemical processor was then coupled via optical links with a two-dimensional cellular automaton (CA) processor. In the BZ chemical processor obstacles are represented by sites of local stimulation generated by an array of silver wires. Circular excitation waves are generated which travel through the medium and approximate a scalar distance-to-obstacle field. The field is taken as the initial configuration of the CA processor, which calculates a tree of 'many-sources-one-destination' shortest paths using wave spreading in a discrete excitable medium. We describe a hybrid (experimental chemical and software based) parallel processor (with parallel inputs and outputs) which uses the principles of wave-based computing in both the physical and computational levels of its architecture.

Citation

Adamatzky, A., & de Lacy Costello, B. (2002). Collision-free path planning in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky medium assisted by a cellular automaton. Naturwissenschaften, 89(10), 474-478. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-002-0363-6

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Oct 1, 2002
Journal Naturwissenschaften
Print ISSN 0028-1042
Publisher Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 89
Issue 10
Pages 474-478
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-002-0363-6
Keywords path planning, Belousov-Zhabotinsky, cellular automaton
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1076120
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-002-0363-6