A biologically inspired neural CPG for sea wave conditions/frequencies

Abstract

This paper shows that a biology-based neural network (called a central pattern generator (CPG)) can be re-evolved for sea conditions / frequencies. The fish's CPG operates at 1.74Hz to 5.56Hz, whereas we require performance to reach 0.05Hz to 0.35Hz (20s to 3s waves) for an alternative engineering problem. This is to enable adaptive control of wave energy devices, increasing their efficiency and power yield. To our knowledge, this is the first time a bio-inspired circuit will be integrated into the engineering domain (and for a completely different function). This provides great inspiration for utilising other neural network mechanisms for alternative tasks. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.