Mixtrinsic Evolution

Evolvable hardware (EHW) refers to automated synthesidoptimization of HW (e.g. electronic circuits) using evolutionary algorithms. Extrinsic EHW refers to evolution using software (SW) simulations of HW models, while intrinsic EHW refers to evolution with HW in the loop, evaluating directly the behaviorhesponse of HW. For several reasons (including mismatches between models and physical HW, limitations of the simulator and testing system, etc.) circuits evolved in SW may not perform the same way when implemented in HW, and vice-versa. This portubilify problem limits the applicability of SW evolved solutions, and on the other hand, prevents the analysis (in SW) of solutions evolved in HW. This paper introduces a third approach to EHW called rnixtrinsic EHW (MEHW). In MEHW evolution takes place with ybrid populations in which some individuals are valuated intrinsically and some xtrinsically, within the same generation or in consecutive ones. A set of experiments using a Field Programmable Transistor Array (FPTA) architecture is presented to illustrate the portability problem, and to demonstrate the efficiency of mixtrinsic EHW in solving this problem.