title: Bio-inspired nano-sensor-enhanced CNN visual computer.
abstract: Nanotechnology opens new ways to utilize recent discoveries in biological image processing by translating the underlying functional concepts into the design of CNN (cellular neural/nonlinear network)-based systems incorporating nanoelectronic devices. There is a natural intersection joining studies of retinal processing, spatio-temporal nonlinear dynamics embodied in CNN, and the possibility of miniaturizing the technology through nanotechnology. This intersection serves as the springboard for our multidisciplinary project. Biological feature and motion detectors map directly into the spatio-temporal dynamics of CNN for target recognition, image stabilization, and tracking. The neural interactions underlying color processing will drive the development of nanoscale multispectral sensor arrays for image fusion. Implementing such nanoscale sensors on a CNN platform will allow the implementation of device feedback control, a hallmark of biological sensory systems. These biologically inspired CNN subroutines are incorporated into the new world of analog-and-logic algorithms and software, containing also many other active-wave computing mechanisms, including nature-inspired (physics and chemistry) as well as PDE-based sophisticated spatio-temporal algorithms. Our goal is to design and develop several miniature prototype devices for target detection, navigation, tracking, and robotics. This paper presents an example illustrating the synergies emerging from the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information and cognitive science.
authors.affiliation: Center for Nano Science and Technology at University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA. Porod@nd.edu
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Porod
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Werblin
authors.forename: Leon O
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Chua
authors.forename: Tamas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Roska
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodriguez-Vazquez
authors.forename: Botond
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Roska
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fay
authors.forename: Gary H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.forename: Yih-Fang
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Arpad I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Csurgay
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D032701:Biomimetics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D014159:Transducers; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*