Boolean Chaos

Research performed at Duke University by Hugo L. D. de S. Cavalcante, Rui Zhang, Zheng Gao, Seth D. Cohen, and Daniel Gauthier, in collaboration with Joshua E. S. Socolar CNCS, Duke, and Daniel P. Lathrop IREAP and Department of Physics, University of Maryland.

Deterministic Chaos is a dynamical state characterized by an exponentially fast divergence of solutions starting at nearby states and a broadband power spectrum. We are interested in deterministic chaos exhibited by systems that can be efficiently modeled by Boolean networks.

We have found deterministic chaos in electronic devices comprised of high-speed digital gates. The voltage produced by the electronic device shows clearly defined transitions between high and low values and thus should be well described by Boolean delay equations. The electronic signal has a ultra-wideband frequency spectrum and therefore can be used as an inexpensive source in spread-spectrum communication systems.

Fig.1: A chaotic Boolean circuit.

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This research is part of the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) Exploiting Nonlinear Dynamics for Novel Sensor Networks (2007). Funding from the Office of Naval Research.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agency.