Cellular Automata: Simulations Using Matlab

This paper presents a series of implementations of cellular automata rules using the Matlab programming environment. A cellular automaton is a decentralized computing model providing an excellent platform for performing complex computations with the help of only local information. Matlab is a numerical interactive computing environment and a high-level language with users coming from various backgrounds of engineering, science, and economics that enables performing computationally intensive tasks faster than with traditional programming languages (such as C, C++, and Fortran). Our objective has been to investigate and exploit the potential of Matlab, which is simple mathematical programming environment that does not require specific programming skills, regarding the understanding and the efficient simulation of complex patterns, arising in nature and across several scientific fields, captured by simple cellular automata structures. We have implemented several cellular automata rules from the recent literature; herein we present indicative cases of practical interest: the forest fire probabilistic rule, the sand pile rule, the ant rule, the traffic jam rule as well as the well-known "Game of Life". Our work indicates that Matlab is indeed an appropriate environment for developing simulations for cellular automata models. Keywords-cellular automata; simulation; Matlab.

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