The Firing Squad Synchronization Problems for Number Patterns on a Seven-Segment Display and Segment Arrays

The Firing Squad Synchronization Problem (FSSP), one of the most well-known problems related to cellular automata, was originally proposed by Myhill in 1957 and became famous through the work of Moore [1]. The first solution to this problem was given by Minsky and McCarthy [2] and a minimal time solution was given by Goto [3]. A significant amount of research has also dealt with variants of this problem. In this paper, from a theoretical interest, we will extend this problem to number patterns on a seven-segment display. Some of these problems can be generalized as the FSSP for some special trees called segment trees. The FSSP for segment trees can be reduced to a FSSP for a one-dimensional array divided evenly by joint cells that we call segment array. We will give algorithms to solve the FSSPs for this segment array and other number patterns, respectively. Moreover, we will clarify the minimal time to solve these problems and show that there exists no such solution

MFCS\u2798 Satellite Workshop on Cellular Automata

For the 1998 conference on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS\u2798) four papers on Cellular Automata were accepted as regular MFCS\u2798 contributions. Furthermore an MFCS\u2798 satellite workshop on Cellular Automata was organized with ten additional talks. The embedding of the workshop into the conference with its participants coming from a broad spectrum of fields of work lead to interesting discussions and a fruitful exchange of ideas. The contributions which had been accepted for MFCS\u2798 itself may be found in the conference proceedings, edited by L. Brim, J. Gruska and J. Zlatuska, Springer LNCS 1450. All other (invited and regular) papers of the workshop are contained in this technical report. (One paper, for which no postscript file of the full paper is available, is only included in the printed version of the report). Contents: F. Blanchard, E. Formenti, P. Kurka: Cellular automata in the Cantor, Besicovitch and Weyl Spaces K. Kobayashi: On Time Optimal Solutions of the Two-Dimensional Firing Squad Synchronization Problem L. Margara: Topological Mixing and Denseness of Periodic Orbits for Linear Cellular Automata over Z_m B. Martin: A Geometrical Hierarchy of Graph via Cellular Automata K. Morita, K. Imai: Number-Conserving Reversible Cellular Automata and Their Computation-Universality C. Nichitiu, E. Remila: Simulations of graph automata K. Svozil: Is the world a machine? H. Umeo: Cellular Algorithms with 1-bit Inter-Cell Communications F. Reischle, Th. Worsch: Simulations between alternating CA, alternating TM and circuit families K. Sutner: Computation Theory of Cellular Automat

A guided tour of asynchronous cellular automata

Research on asynchronous cellular automata has received a great amount of attention these last years and has turned to a thriving field. We survey the recent research that has been carried out on this topic and present a wide state of the art where computing and modelling issues are both represented.Comment: To appear in the Journal of Cellular Automat

Programmation et indécidabilités dans les systèmes complexes

N/AUn système complexe est un système constitué d'un ensemble d'entités quiinteragissent localement, engendrant des comportements globaux, émergeant dusystème, qu'on ne sait pas expliquer à partir du comportement local, connu, desentités qui le constituent. Nos travaux ont pour objet de mieux cerner lesliens entre certaines propriétés des systèmes complexes et le calcul. Parcalcul, il faut entendre l'objet d'étude de l'informatique, c'est-à-dire ledéplacement et la combinaison d'informations. À l'aide d'outils issus del'informatique, l'algorithmique et la programmation dans les systèmes complexessont abordées selon trois points de vue. Une première forme de programmation,dite externe, consiste à développer l'algorithmique qui permet de simuler lessystèmes étudiés. Une seconde forme de programmation, dite interne, consiste àdévelopper l'algorithmique propre à ces systèmes, qui permet de construire desreprésentants de ces systèmes qui exhibent des comportements programmés. Enfin,une troisième forme de programmation, de réduction, consiste à plonger despropriétés calculatoires complexes dans les représentants de ces systèmes pourétablir des résultats d'indécidabilité -- indice d'une grande complexitécalculatoire qui participe à l'explication de la complexité émergente. Afin demener à bien cette étude, les systèmes complexes sont modélisés par desautomates cellulaires. Le modèle des automates cellulaires offre une dualitépertinente pour établir des liens entre complexité des propriétés globales etcalcul. En effet, un automate cellulaire peut être décrit à la fois comme unréseau d'automates, offrant un point de vue familier de l'informatique, etcomme un système dynamique discret, une fonction définie sur un espacetopologique, offrant un point de vue familier de l'étude des systèmesdynamiques discrets.Une première partie de nos travaux concerne l'étude de l'objet automatecellulaire proprement dit. L'observation expérimentale des automatescellulaires distingue, dans la littérature, deux formes de dynamiques complexesdominantes. Certains automates cellulaires présentent une dynamique danslaquelle émergent des structures simples, sortes de particules qui évoluentdans un domaine régulier, se rencontrent lors de brèves collisions, avant degénérer d'autres particules. Cette forme de complexité, dans laquelletransparaît une notion de quanta d'information localisée en interaction, estl'objet de nos études. Un premier champ de nos investigations est d'établir uneclassification algébrique, le groupage, qui tend à rendre compte de ce type decomportement. Cette classification met à jour un type d'automate cellulaireparticulier : les automates cellulaires intrinsèquement universels. Un automatecellulaire intrinsèquement universel est capable de simuler le comportement detout automate cellulaire. C'est l'objet de notre second champ d'investigation.Nous caractérisons cette propriété et démontrons son indécidabilité. Enfin, untroisième champ d'investigation concerne l'algorithmique des automatescellulaires à particules et collisions. Étant donné un ensemble de particuleset de collisions d'un tel automate cellulaire, nous étudions l'ensemble desinteractions possibles et proposons des outils pour une meilleure programmationinterne à l'aide de ces collisions.Une seconde partie de nos travaux concerne la programmation par réduction. Afinde démontrer l'indécidabilité de propriétés dynamiques des automatescellulaires, nous étudions d'une part les problèmes de pavage du plan par desjeux de tuiles finis et d'autre part les problèmes de mortalité et depériodicité dans les systèmes dynamiques discrets à fonction partielle. Cetteétude nous amène à considérer des objets qui possèdent la même dualité entredescription combinatoire et topologique que les automates cellulaires. Unenotion d'apériodicité joue un rôle central dans l'indécidabilité des propriétésde ces objets

A Language-centered Approach to support environmental modeling with Cellular Automata

Die Anwendung von Methodiken und Technologien aus dem Bereich der Softwaretechnik auf den Bereich der Umweltmodellierung ist eine gemeinhin akzeptierte Vorgehensweise. Im Rahmen der "modellgetriebenen Entwicklung"(MDE, model-driven engineering) werden Technologien entwickelt, die darauf abzielen, Softwaresysteme vorwiegend auf Basis von im Vergleich zu Programmquelltexten relativ abstrakten Modellen zu entwickeln. Ein wesentlicher Bestandteil von MDE sind Techniken zur effizienten Entwicklung von "domänenspezifischen Sprachen"( DSL, domain-specific language), die auf Sprachmetamodellen beruhen. Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt, wie modellgetriebene Entwicklung, und insbesondere die metamodellbasierte Beschreibung von DSLs, darüber hinaus Aspekte der Pragmatik unterstützen kann, deren Relevanz im erkenntnistheoretischen und kognitiven Hintergrund wissenschaftlichen Forschens begründet wird. Hierzu wird vor dem Hintergrund der Erkenntnisse des "modellbasierten Forschens"(model-based science und model-based reasoning) gezeigt, wie insbesondere durch Metamodelle beschriebene DSLs Möglichkeiten bieten, entsprechende pragmatische Aspekte besonders zu berücksichtigen, indem sie als Werkzeug zur Erkenntnisgewinnung aufgefasst werden. Dies ist v.a. im Kontext großer Unsicherheiten, wie sie für weite Teile der Umweltmodellierung charakterisierend sind, von grundsätzlicher Bedeutung. Die Formulierung eines sprachzentrierten Ansatzes (LCA, language-centered approach) für die Werkzeugunterstützung konkretisiert die genannten Aspekte und bildet die Basis für eine beispielhafte Implementierung eines Werkzeuges mit einer DSL für die Beschreibung von Zellulären Automaten (ZA) für die Umweltmodellierung. Anwendungsfälle belegen die Verwendbarkeit von ECAL und der entsprechenden metamodellbasierten Werkzeugimplementierung.The application of methods and technologies of software engineering to environmental modeling and simulation (EMS) is common, since both areas share basic issues of software development and digital simulation. Recent developments within the context of "Model-driven Engineering" (MDE) aim at supporting the development of software systems at the base of relatively abstract models as opposed to programming language code. A basic ingredient of MDE is the development of methods that allow the efficient development of "domain-specific languages" (DSL), in particular at the base of language metamodels. This thesis shows how MDE and language metamodeling in particular, may support pragmatic aspects that reflect epistemic and cognitive aspects of scientific investigations. For this, DSLs and language metamodeling in particular are set into the context of "model-based science" and "model-based reasoning". It is shown that the specific properties of metamodel-based DSLs may be used to support those properties, in particular transparency, which are of particular relevance against the background of uncertainty, that is a characterizing property of EMS. The findings are the base for the formulation of an corresponding specific metamodel- based approach for the provision of modeling tools for EMS (Language-centered Approach, LCA), which has been implemented (modeling tool ECA-EMS), including a new DSL for CA modeling for EMS (ECAL). At the base of this implementation, the applicability of this approach is shown

Automata Modeling of Quorum Sensing for Nanocommunication Networks

Projecte final de carrera realitzat en col.laboració amb Broadband Wireless Networking Lab. Georgia Institute of Technology. AtlantaNanotechnology is enabling the development of devices in a scale ranging one to hundreds of nanometers. Communication between these devices underlying in the nanoscale greatly expands the possible applications, increasing the complexity and range of operation of the system. Several options for nanocommunications have been discovered and studied, and many of them take some natural mechanisms and processes as a model, or directly use di erent elements from nature to serve its purposes. For instance, in molecular communications, the information is encoded in tiny particles secreted by the emitter. In this work, a special case of molecular communications is studied and modeled. Quorum Sensing is a mechanism used by bacteria to sense their own population and coordinate or synchronize their actions, through the emission and sensing of molecules called autoinducers. The behavior of each bacterium involved featuring Quorum Sensing is modeled as an individual nite state automaton, capturing its course of action. Later, the design of a novel nanomachine that will include Quorum Sensing is presented, along with its applications. Mainly, Quorum Sensing will serve to synchronize the processes of a group of nanodevices, and this idea is developed to present \Collective Actuation Synchronization" and \Collective Actuation after Localized Sensing" nanomachines. Finally, these con gurations are implemented and simulated, and the results are later discussed

A technique for determining viable military logistics support alternatives

A look at today's US military will see them operating much beyond the scope of protecting and defending the United States. These operations now consist of, but are not limited to humanitarian aid, disaster relief, and conflict resolution. This broad spectrum of operational environments has necessitated a transformation of the individual military services into a hybrid force that can leverage the inherent and emerging capabilities from the strengths of those under the umbrella of the Department of Defense (DOD), this concept has been coined Joint Operations. Supporting Joint Operations requires a new approach to determining a viable military logistics support system. The logistics architecture for these operations has to accommodate scale, time, varied mission objectives, and imperfect information. Compounding the problem is the human in the loop (HITL) decision maker (DM) who is a necessary component for quickly assessing and planning logistics support activities. Past outcomes are not necessarily good indicators of future results, but they can provide a reasonable starting point for planning and prediction of specific needs for future requirements. Adequately forecasting the necessary logistical support structure and commodities needed for any resource intensive environment has progressed well beyond stable demand assumptions to one in which dynamic and nonlinear environments can be captured with some degree of fidelity and accuracy. While these advances are important, a holistic approach that allows exploration of the operational environment or design space does not exist to guide the military logistician in a methodical way to support military forecasting activities. To bridge this capability gap, a method called A Technique for Logistics Architecture Selection (ATLAS) has been developed. This thesis describes and applies the ATLAS method to a notional military scenario that involves the Navy concept of Seabasing and the Marine Corps concept of Distributed Operations applied to a platoon sized element. This work uses modeling and simulation to incorporate expert opinion and knowledge of military operations, dynamic reasoning methods, and certainty analysis to create a decisions support system (DSS) that can be used to provide the DM an enhanced view of the logistics environment and variables that impact specific measures of effectiveness.Ph.D.Committee Chair: Mavris, Dimitri; Committee Member: Fahringer, Philip; Committee Member: Nixon, Janel; Committee Member: Schrage, Daniel; Committee Member: Soban, Danielle; Committee Member: Vachtsevanos, Georg