Pattern Recognition System Using Evolvable Hardware

We have developed a high-speed pattern recognition system using evolvable hardware (EHW). EHW is hardware that can change its own structure by genetic learning for maximum adaptation to the environment. The purpose of the system is to show that recognition devices based on EHW are possible and that they have the same robustness to noise as devices based on an artificial neural network (ANN). The advantage of EHW compared with ANN is the high processing speed and the readability of the learned result. In this paper, we describe the learning algorithm, the architecture, and the experiment involving a pattern recognition system that uses EHW. We also compare the processing speed of the pattern recognition system with two types of ANN dedicated hardware and discuss the performance of the system. © 2000 Scripta Technica.