Abstract
Evolvable hardware (EHW) refers to automated synthesis/optimization of HW (e.g. electronic circuits) using evolutionary algorithms. Extrinsic EHW refers to evolution using software (SW) simulations of HW models, while intrinsic EHW refers to evolution with HW in the loop, evaluating directly the behavior/response of HW. For several reasons (including mismatches between models and physical HW, limitations of the simulator and testing system, etc.) circuits evolved in SW may not perform the same way when implemented in HW, and vice-versa. This portability problem limits the applicability of SW evolved solutions, and on the other hand, prevents the analysis (in SW) of solutions evolved in HW. This paper introduces a third approach to EHW called mixtrinsic EHW (MEHW). In MEHW evolution takes place with hybrid populations in which some individuals are evaluated intrinsically and some extrinsically, within the same generation or in consecutive ones. A set of experiments using a Field Programmable Transistor Array (FPTA) architecture is presented to illustrate the portability problem, and to demonstrate the efficiency of mixtrinsic EHW in solving this problem.
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Stoica, A., Zebulum, R., Keymeulen, D. (2000). Mixtrinsic Evolution. In: Miller, J., Thompson, A., Thomson, P., Fogarty, T.C. (eds) Evolvable Systems: From Biology to Hardware. ICES 2000. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1801. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46406-9_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46406-9_21
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