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Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Carroll, Christopher R.
URN	etd-09132006-131111
Persistent URL	http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-09132006-131111
Title	Hybrid processing
Degree	PhD
Option	Computer Science
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Ivan Sutherland Committee Chair Carver Mead Committee Member
Keywords	none
Date of Defense	1982-03-08
Availability	restricted
Abstract The past decade has witnessed a revolution in digital electronics. As the cost per function has decreased, digital techniques have pushed the older analog methods into the background. This thesis explores a method of merging digital and analog techniques into a hybrid combination of the two. Representing the analog information as continuously variable intervals of time minimizes the effects of noise on the analog data. Ensuring that only digital data pass from one computation to another prevents the accumulation of errors. As an example of hybrid processing, this thesis includes the design of Large Scale Integrated (LSI) circuit that implements the Lee-Moore maze solving algorithm, extended to cover the two-layer path finding case. The use of digital information to describe the path geometry and analog information to describe the path costs demonstrates the system's hybrid nature. The design of this system provided several lessons applicable to the design of other hybrid systems. It also unexpectedly demonstrated the importance of the communication structure in determining the costs involved in all kinds of processing. These lessons are summarized in the last chapter.
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