Optical Symbolic Processor for Expert System Execution
Abstract
In recent years there has been a great deal of interest in combining the extraordinary communications power of optics with symbolic computing techniques to develop a highly parallel optical computer. Advances in parallel computer architecture and development of digital optical components and systems have laid the groundwork for such a computer. In this report we describe the development of an optical architecture designed for symbolic computing. In previous work we examined logic and functional languages to determine which had characteristics more amenable to optical implementation. We found (cf. 2nd Tech. Report) that functional languages were a better fit than others and that combinator graph reduction (CGR) was the appropriate computational model. We also examined symbolic substitution and other optical computing techniques to determine which could provide the most power and flexibility. We decided that symbolic substitution coupled with some form of data movement scheme was the best scheme to employ.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 23, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA181833
Entities
People
- Aloke Guha
- Matthew Derstine
- Subra Natarajan
Organizations
- Honeywell International, Inc.