title: Glow discharge in microfluidic chips for visible analog computing.
abstract: Here we present a novel visible analog computing approach for solving a wide class of shortest path problems. Using a microfluidic chip for computation, based on the lighting up of a glow discharge, the solution to maze search problems, the solution of a network shortest path and k-shortest paths problems and the practical application of finding the shortest paths between several landmarks from a street map are presented. The solution and visible display (in real time) for these problems shows only a small difference in practical problem solving time among problems with varying differences in size.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, UKSW7 2AY.
authors.forename: Darwin R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Reyes
authors.forename: Moustafa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ghanem
authors.forename: George M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Whitesides
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manz