The design and application of a fast fuzzy automata machine

The York Probabilistic Automata Machine is a video rate 256 cube Automata Array. The system has been developed primarily in ASIC based components, with the bulk of processing performed through a set of overlapped pipelines. Physical connectivity is limited to 128 nodes (in three dimensions), although higher `virtual connectivities´ are possible. Individual operations permitted at cellular level include binary and `fuzzy´ logic, plus simple weighted arithmetic. To complement the processor configuration, high bandwidth I/O and display units are currently under development, allowing arbitrary mappings of data I/O onto three dimensional surfaces within the unit. This paper introduces the York PAM and develops the application of virtual connectivity in automata like systems for massively parallel computation. The design and implementation of the individual processing element are presented, and the design of the three dimensional video re-sequencer discussed. Finally the use of probabilistic automata for the presentation of high level image data and facial recognition through neural techniques are presented