FILTRONS AND THEIR ASSOCIATED RING COMPUTATIONS

Certain special computational models called the filter automata (FA) are presented. We use them in iterative, pipelined processing of discrete sequences. Such computations reveal characteristic moving, periodic objects, with soliton-like properties referred to as the filtrons. Filter automata play the role of a transmitting medium or a field, while filtrons behave like waves or particles

We characterise FA by showing their distinguishing features, and fillrons—by introducing some parameters, such as edge numbers, number of FA cycles involved, distribution of internal idle pulses, etc. We show that filtrons may be generated in parallel by a multiprocessor ring net. This means that each filtron has its associated ring computation. If such a computation succeeds then its companion filtron exists, too. The link between filtrons and their ring computations is established simply by the filtron edge numbers. This gives a method of calculating a whole filtron if its edge number and supporting FA are known, and of looking for possible filter automata capable of supporting a prescribed filtron

A number of FA computational phenomena, recently discovered, are also presented. Some of them call for physical experiments to verify to what extent the filter automata may model physical reality. We believe that such experiments could be performed in optical fibres using solitons of light.