A
revolutionary new computer based on the apparent chaos of nature can reprogram
itself if it finds a fault
OUT of
chaos, comes order. A computer that mimics the apparent randomness found in
nature can instantly recover from crashes by repairing corrupted data.
Dubbed a
"systemic" computer, the self-repairing machine now operating at
University College London (UCL) could keep mission-critical systems working.
For instance, it could allow drones to reprogram themselves to cope with combat
damage, or help create more realistic models of the human brain.
Everyday
computers are ill suited to modelling natural processes such as how neurons
work or how bees swarm. This is because they plod along sequentially, executing
one instruction at a time. "Nature isn't like that," says UCL
computer scientist Peter Bentley. "Its processes are distributed,
decentralised and probabilistic. And they are fault tolerant, able to heal
themselves. A computer should be able to do that."
Today's computers
work steadily through a list of instructions: one is fetched from the memory
and executed, then the result of the computation is stashed in memory. That is
then repeated – all under the control of a sequential timer called a program
counter. While the method is great for number-crunching, it doesn't lend itself
to simultaneous operations. "Even when it feels like your computer is
running all your software at the same time, it is just pretending to do that,
flicking its attention very quickly between each program," Bentley says.
He and
UCL's Christos Sakellariou have created a computer in which data is married up
with instructions on what to do with it. For example, it links the temperature
outside with what to do if it's too hot. It then divides the results up into
pools of digital entities called "systems".
Fuente: Meneame
