Conclusion

Abstract

As promised at the end of the introduction (Section 1.4), the conclusion is that points 1–3 of my thesis have been shown to be true, using a combination of theory, verbal argument, and empirical demonstrations:

For intrinsic hardware evolution:

• 1. Evolution can be allowed to explore circuits that are beyond the scope of conventional design. With their less constrained spatial structure and richer dynamical behaviour, these circuits can be of a different nature to the way electronics is normally envisaged.

• Chapter 3 considered the basic step of abstraction common to all conventional design methodologies. To facilitate design at an abstract level, constraints on the circuit’s structure and/or dynamics must be applied to prevent those aspects of the real semiconductor physics that have been ‘abstracted away’ from influencing the overall behaviour of the system.

• In a pair of experiments in Chapter 3, in which oscillators were evolved in simulation and then on a real FPGA, it was shown that evolution is capable of crafting the dynamics of a complex network of high-speed electronic components to display behaviour on a desired timescale, without the imposition of structural or dynamical constraints. The tone-discriminator experiment of Chapter 5 clearly demonstrated evolution’s ability to explore rich structures and dynamical behaviours that are obviously radically different to those produced by conventional design, but yet which achieve the desired behaviour perfectly.

• This first point of the thesis has thus been shown to be true.