Design of Combinational Circuits using Genetic Algorithms
Project Description
We are exploring the use of different GA representations and techniques that
allow us to automate the design of logic combinational circuits defined by
a truth table. The output to the problem is a Boolean expression representing
a fully functional circuit which is optimal in a certain quantitative way
(e.g., the number of gates used).
Research Opportunities
Anyone interested in this project may collaborate in one or more of
the following activities:
- Study and develop tools to explore the fitness landscapes of
different combinational circuits, in an attemp to identify the types
of circuits that are particularly difficult for a GA. This would
also facilitate the development of tools that could improve the
performance of the GA in such problems (PhD student
required).
- Develop an implementation of the system with a friendly (graphical)
user interface. The software should run under Windows. (Undergraduate
student required)
- Explore alternative representation schemes for this problem, looking
for a trade-off between the variable-length linear representation currently
used and the tree representation used in genetic programming. (Masters
student required)
- Explore the use of alternative operators and study the effect of
speciation and parameter fine-tuning in the solution process. Study
the use of self-adaptation techniques. Use case-based
reasoning techniques to extract patterns of design from small circuits
to reuse them in larger and more complex circuits. Analyze the effect
of the representation and the degree of deception of the problem
(dependent upon the representation scheme used). (PhD student
required)
Interested students, please contact Dr.
Carlos A. Coello Coello.
Related Publications
- Coello, Carlos A.; Christiansen, Alan D. & Hernández
Aguirre,
Using Genetic Algorithms to Design Combinational
Logic Circuits . ANNIE'96. Intelligent Engineering through
Artificial Neural Networks, Volume 6. Smart Engineering Systems:
Neural Networks, Fuzzy Logic and Evolutionary Programming. Edited
by Cihan H. Dagli, Metin Akay, C. L. Philip Chen, Benito R. Fernandez
and Joydeep Ghosh. pp. 391-396. November, 1996.
- Coello, Carlos A.; Christiansen, Alan D. & Hernández Aguirre, Arturo,
Automated Design of Combinational Logic Circuits Using Genetic Algorithms
Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Neural Nets and
Genetic Algorithms, ICANNGA'97. University of East Anglia, Norwich, England.
Edited by D. G. Smith, N. C. Steele and R. F. Albrecht, Springer-Verlag, pp. 335-338. 2-4 April 1997.
- Coello, Carlos A.; Christiansen, Alan D. & Hernández Aguirre, Arturo,
Diseño Optimo de Circuitos Lógicos usando
Algoritmos Genéticos. Primer Encuentro de Computación. Taller de Aprendizaje. Querétaro,
Querétaro, 11-13 de septiembre de 1997, pp. 1-10.
- Hernández Aguirre, Arturo; Coello, Carlos A. and Buckles,
Bill P., A genetic programming approach
to logic function synthesis by means of multiplexers,
Proceedings of the First NASA/DOD Workshop on Evolvable Hardware,
Edited by Adrian Stoica, Didier Keymeulen and Jason Lohn, pp. 46--53,
IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, California, July 1999
- Coello Coello, Carlos A.; Christiansen, Alan D. and
Hernández Aguirre, Arturo,
Use
of Evolutionary
Techniques to Automate the Design of Combinational Circuits,
International Journal of Smart Engineering System Design,
Elsevier Science, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 299-314, June 2000
- Coello Coello, Carlos A.; Christiansen, Alan D. and
Hernández Aguirre, Arturo,
Towards
Automated Evolutionary Design of Combinational Circuits,
Computers and Electrical Engineering,
Pergamon Press, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 1-28, January
2001 (in press)
- Coello Coello, Carlos A.; Zavala G. Rosa Laura; Mendoza G., Benito
and Hernández Aguirre, Arturo, Ant Colony System for the Design
of Combinational Logic Circuits, in Julian Miller, Adrian Thompson,
Peter Thomson and Terence C. Fogarty (Eds.), Evolvable Systems: From
Biology to Hardware, Edinburgh, Scotland, Springer-Verlag, pp. 21--30,
April 2000.
- Hernández Aguirre, Arturo, Buckles, Bill P. and
Coello Coello, Carlos A.
Gate-level
Synthesis of Boolean Functions using Binary Multiplexers and Genetic
Programming, 2000 Congress on Evolutionary
Computation, pp. 675--682, Volume 1,
IEEE Service Center, Piscataway, New Jersey, July 2000 .
- Coello Coello, Carlos A.; Hernández Aguirre, Arturo &
Buckles, Bill, P,
Evolutionary
Multiobjective Design of Combinational Logic Circuits,
in Jason Lohn, Adrian Stoica, Didier Keymeulen & Silvano Colombano (editors),
Proceedings of the Second NASA/DoD Workshop on Evolvable Hardware,
pp. 161--170, IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos, California, July 2000.
.
- Coello Coello, Carlos A & Hernández Aguirre, Arturo,
Design
of Combinational Logic Circuits through an Evolutionary Multiobjective
Optimization Approach, Technical Report No. Lania-RI-2000-05,
Laboratorio Nacional de Informática Avanzada, 2000 .
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge partial support from REDII-CONACyT and LANIA for
the development of this research project.
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