‘Smart Surface’: Massively Parallel Actuator Array Controlled by Non-Linear Medium.

Non-Linear Medium:

Medium whose behaviour can not be expressed as a linear function of its descriptors is non—linear. Function            is linear  if it satisfies both to the property of additivity an homogeneity:

 

                          1. Additivity:

 

                          2. Homogenity:                                       ,  for all 

                       

In this project the non-Linear medium is represented by a Cellular Automata (CA) or  by Belousov—Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction, which create excitation patterns in the governing layer.

 

The CA model is convenient for in-depth investigation of the excitation dynamics with minimal computation costs. The CA is defined as a 2D lattice C of cells indexed by i and j. Each cell can be in one of three states: resting (P), excited (E) and refractory (R). Cells update their states simultaneously and according to certain rules. Rules for different models may vary, for details see papers [1],[2] devoted to this subject.

The advantage of the BZ reaction is that it represents the real non-linear system in a real time. The behaviour of the parallel actuator governed by the BZ reaction is also shown on Simulations page and in paper [3].