Neural routing circuits for forming invariant representations of visual objects

This thesis presents a biologically plausible model of an attentional mechanism for forming position- and scale-invariant representations of objects in the visual world. The model relies on a set of control neurons to dynamically modify the synaptic strengths of intra-cortical connections so that information from a windowed region of primary visual cortex (Vl) is selectively routed to higher cortical areas. Local spatial relationships (i.e., topography) within the attentional window are preserved as information is routed through the cortex, thus enabling attended objects to be represented in higher cortical areas within an object-centered reference frame that is position and scale invariant. The representation in V1 is modeled as a multiscale stack of sample nodes with progressively lower resolution at higher eccentricities. Large changes in the size of the attentional window are accomplished by switching between different levels of the multiscale stack, while positional shifts and small changes in scale are accomplished by translating and rescaling the window within a single level of the stack. The control signals for setting the position and size of the attentional window are hypothesized to originate from neurons in the pulvinar and in the deep layers of visual cortex. The dynamics of these control neurons are governed by simple differential equations that can be realized by neurobiologically plausible circuits. In pre-attentive mode, the control neurons receive their input from a low-level "saliency map" representing potentially interesting regions of a scene. During the pattern recognition phase, control neurons are driven by the interaction between top-down (memory) and bottom-up (retinal input) sources. The model respects key neurophysiological, neuroanatomical, and psychophysical data relating to attention, and it makes a variety of experimentally testable predictions.

Optical two-dimensional SW-banyan network: Optical implementation, routing control, and determination of permissible permutations

A 2-D SW-banyan network is introduced by properly folding the 1-D SW-banyan network, and its corresponding optical setup is proposed by means of polarizing beamsplitters and 2-D phase spatial light modulators. Then, based on the characteristics and the proposed optical setup, the control for the routing path between any source-destination pair is given, and the method to determine whether a given permutation is permissible or not is discussed. Because the proposed optical setup consists of only optical polarization elements, it is compact in structure, its corresponding energy loss and crosstalk are low, and its corresponding available number of channels is high. (C) 1996 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Routing scheme, permutation properties, and optical implementation of a four-shuffle-exchange-based Omega network

The routing scheme and some permutation properties of a four-shuffle-exchange-based Omega network are discussed. The corresponding optical setup, which is composed of 2-D phase spatial light modulators and calcite plates, is proposed and demonstrated through mapping the inputs to a 2-D array. Instead of one shuffle-exchange followed by one switching operation as in ordinary Omega networks, in our presented system, the shuffle interconnection embraced in the switches is accomplished simply by varying the switching structure of each stage. For the proposed polarization-optical modules, the system is compact in structure, efficient in performance, and insensitive to the environment. (C) 1997 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Adaptive agent-based manufacturing control and its application to flow shop routing control

The manufacturing industry is currently facing unprecedented challenges from changes and disturbances. The sources of these changes and disturbances are of different scope and magnitude. They can be of a commercial nature, or linked to fast product development and design, or purely operational (e.g. rush order, machine breakdown, material shortage etc.). In order to meet these requirements it is increasingly important that a production operation be flexible and is able to adapt to new and more suitable ways of operating. This paper focuses on a new strategy for enabling manufacturing control systems to adapt to changing conditions both in terms of product variation and production system upgrades. The approach proposed is based on two key concepts: (1) An autonomous and distributed approach to manufacturing control based on multi-agent methods in which so called operational agents represent the key physical and logical elements in the production environment to be controlled - for example, products and machines and the control strategies that drive them and (2) An adaptation mechanism based around the evolutionary concept of replicator dynamics which updates the behaviour of newly formed operational agents based on historical performance records in order to be better suited to the production environment. An application of this approach for route selection of similar products in manufacturing flow shops is developed and is illustrated in this paper using an example based on the control of an automobile paint shop.

Self-configuring intelligent control for short reach 100Gb/s optical packet routing

An advanced control architecture is proposed which recognizes and configures new connections, automatically performs calibration and initiates the routing of 100Gb/s data packets. The scheme is proposed for high capacity, low overhead, short reach networking. ©2005 Optical Society of America.

Negligible penalty all-optical routing using a 12 × 12 passive InP wavelength-selective router

This work demonstrates transmission at 2.5 Gbit/s across two wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) network nodes, constructed using counter-propagating semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) wavelength converters and an integrated wavelength-selective router separated by 45 km of fiber, with an overall penalty of 0.6 dB. Minimal degradation of the eye diagram is evident across the whole system. Full utilization of the capacity of the router would allow an aggregate 360-Gbit/s node capacity for a WDM channel of 2.5 Gb/s.

All-optical routing using a 12×12 passive InP wavelength selective router and tuneable wavelength conversion

All-optical routing of 2.5Gbit/s WDM signals across two cascaded Optical Cross Connects(OXCs) with a penalty of only 0.6dB has been demonstrated using tuneable wavelength converters and a passive WDM router.