A circuit based Evolvable Hardware Architecture

Abstract

This thesis presents an Evolvable Hardware Architecture that was developed in the Quantum Nanostructures and Nanofabrication Laboratory. We believe intrinsic evolution is a promising tool that can be used to exploit the physics of complex systems. I present a reconfigurable analog circuit platform that is coupled with a genetic algorithm to evolve circuit functions. The design process is detailed along with the results of three evolved circuits. Our coarse grained analog system parallels other evolvable hardware platforms that have been developed using the same architecture. I place our platform in the context of other efforts in the field and our intentions for future work. The speed and complexity of our board is discussed with areas for future development outlined.