Exploring the symbol processing 'time interval' parametric constraint in a Belousov-Zhabotinsky operated chemical Turing machine

Chemical reactions are powerful molecular recognition machines. This power has been recently harnessed to build actual instances of each class of experimentally realizable computing automata, using exclusively small-molecule chemistry ( i.e. without requiring biomolecules). The most powerful of them...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:RSC advances 2021-07, Vol.11 (37), p.23151-2316
Main Authors: Draper, Thomas C, Dueñas-Díez, Marta, Pérez-Mercader, Juan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automata theory
Biomolecules
Chemical reactions
Chemistry
Design parameters
Optimization
Robustness (mathematics)
Turing machines
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Chemical reactions are powerful molecular recognition machines. This power has been recently harnessed to build actual instances of each class of experimentally realizable computing automata, using exclusively small-molecule chemistry ( i.e. without requiring biomolecules). The most powerful of them, a programmable Turing machine, uses the Belousov-Zhabotinsky oscillatory chemistry, and accepts/rejects input sequences through a dual oscillatory and thermodynamic output signature. The time interval between the aliquots representing each letter of the input is the parameter that determines the time it takes to run the computation. Here, we investigate this critical performance parameter, and its effect not only on the computation speed, but also on the robustness of the accept/reject oscillatory and thermodynamic criteria. Our work demonstrates that the time interval is a non-trivial design parameter, whose choice should be made with great care. The guidelines we provide can be used in the optimization of the speed, robustness, and energy efficiency of chemical automata computations. Chemical reactions are powerful molecular recognition machines.
ISSN:2046-2069
2046-2069
DOI:10.1039/d1ra03856g