P system

About: P system is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 333 publications have been published within this topic receiving 6135 citations.

Spiking Neural P Systems

Abstract: This paper proposes a way to incorporate the idea of spiking neurons into the area of membrane computing, and to this aim we introduce a class of neural-like P systems which we call spiking neural P systems (in short, SN P systems). In these devices, the time (when the neurons fire and/or spike) plays an essential role. For instance, the result of a computation is the time between the moments when a specified neuron spikes. Seen as number computing devices, SN P systems are shown to be computationally complete (both in the generating and accepting modes, in the latter case also when restricting to deterministic systems). If the number of spikes present in the system is bounded, then the power of SN P systems falls drastically, and we get a characterization of semilinear sets. A series of research topics and open problems are formulated.

Tissue P systems

Abstract: Starting from the way the inter-cellular communication takes place by means of protein channels (and also from the standard knowledge about neuron functioning), we propose a computing model called a tissue P system, which processes symbols in a multiset rewriting sense, in a net of cells. Each cell has a finite state memory, processes multisets of symbol-impulses, and can send impulses (“excitations”) to the neighboring cells. Such cell nets are shown to be rather powerful: they can simulate a Turing machine even when using a small number of cells, each of them having a small number of states. Moreover, in the case when each cell works in the maximal manner and it can excite all the cells to which it can send impulses, then one can easily solve the Hamiltonian Path Problem in linear time. A new characterization of the Parikh images of ET0L languages is also obtained in this framework. Besides such basic results, the paper provides a series of suggestions for further research.

On spiking neural P systems

Abstract: This work deals with several aspects concerning the formal verification of SN P systems and the computing power of some variants. A methodology based on the information given by the transition diagram associated with an SN P system is presented. The analysis of the diagram cycles codifies invariants formulae which enable us to establish the soundness and completeness of the system with respect to the problem it tries to resolve. We also study the universality of asynchronous and sequential SN P systems and the capability these models have to generate certain classes of languages. Further, by making a slight modification to the standard SN P systems, we introduce a new variant of SN P systems with a special I/O mode, called SN P modules, and study their computing power. It is demonstrated that, as string language acceptors and transducers, SN P modules can simulate several types of computing devices such as finite automata, a-finite transducers, and systolic trellis automata.

Small universal spiking neural P systems.

Abstract: In search for small universal computing devices of various types, we consider here the case of spiking neural P systems (SN P systems), in two variants: as devices that compute functions and as devices that generate sets of numbers. We start with the first case and we produce a universal spiking neural P system with 84 neurons. If a slight generalization of the used rules is adopted, namely, we allow rules for producing simultaneously several spikes, then a considerable reduction, to 49 neurons, is obtained. For SN P systems used as generators of sets of numbers, we find a universal system with restricted rules having 76 neurons and one with extended rules having 50 neurons.