Chemical information processing devices constructed using a nonlinear medium with controlled excitability

Abstract

Chemical signals composed of excitation pulses can be processed in a medium with an appropriate geometrical arrangement of excitable and non-excitable regions. In this paper we consider two types of signal processing devices: a binary logic gate and a four input, neuron like structure. Using numerical simulations, we demonstrate that small local changes in the excitability level of the medium can completely change the function executed by the device and can thus be used to program it. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.