Evolvable, reconfigurable hardware for future space systems

This paper overviews Evolvable Hardware (EHW) technology, examining its potential for enhancing survivability and flexibility of future space systems. EHW refers to selfconfiguration of electronic hardware by evolutionary/genetic search mechanisms. Evolvable Hardware can maintain existing functionality in the presence of faults and degradations due to aging, temperature and radiation. It can also configure itself for new functionality when required for mission changes or encountered opportunities. The paper illustrates hardware evolution in silicon using a JPL-designed programmable device reconfigurable at transistor level as the platform and a genetic algorithm running on a DSP as the reconfiguration mechanism. Rapid reconfiguration allows convergence to circuit solutions in the order of seconds. The experiments demonstrate functional recovery from faults as well as from degradation at extreme temperatures indicating the possibility of expanding the operational range of extreme electronics through evolved circuit solutions.

[1]  Adrian Stoica,et al.  EHWPACK: An evolvable hardware environment using the SPICE simulator and the Field Programmable Transistor Array , 2000 .

[2]  Adrian Stoica,et al.  On Polymorphic Circuits and Their Design Using Evolutionary Algorithms , 2002 .

[3]  Vu Duong,et al.  Evolution of analog circuits on field programmable transistor arrays , 2000, Proceedings. The Second NASA/DoD Workshop on Evolvable Hardware.

[4]  Adrian Stoica,et al.  An Evolvable Hardware Platform Based on DSP and FPTA , 2002, GECCO Late Breaking Papers.

[5]  Adrian Stoica,et al.  Fault-tolerant evolvable hardware using field-programmable transistor arrays , 2000, IEEE Trans. Reliab..

[6]  Marley M. B. R. Vellasco,et al.  PAMA-programmable analog multiplexer array , 2001, Proceedings Third NASA/DoD Workshop on Evolvable Hardware. EH-2001.

[7]  Adrian Stoica,et al.  Reconfigurable VLSI architectures for evolvable hardware: from experimental field programmable transistor arrays to evolution-oriented chips , 2001, IEEE Trans. Very Large Scale Integr. Syst..

[8]  Derek S. Linden,et al.  Optimizing signal strength in-situ using an evolvable antenna system , 2002, Proceedings 2002 NASA/DoD Conference on Evolvable Hardware.

[9]  Adrian Stoica,et al.  Evolvable hardware solutions for extreme temperature electronics , 2001, Proceedings Third NASA/DoD Workshop on Evolvable Hardware. EH-2001.

[10]  Vu Duong,et al.  Evolving circuits in seconds: experiments with a stand-alone board-level evolvable system , 2002, Proceedings 2002 NASA/DoD Conference on Evolvable Hardware.