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Abstract-Some open problems in the theory of cellular automata the vector addition of x and ti. A step of computation
are considered: the tradeoff between machine complexity and inter-
connection complexity, linear time pattern recognition and trans- consists of a state transformation of each cell of the n-D
formation problems, and the noncomputability of the constant of space. At any instant, the states of all the cells give the
linearity of linear time problems. configuration. That is, a configuration of an n-D automaton
Index Terms-Cellular automata, complexity tradeoffs, inter- with state set S is given by a function f: In -* S, where
connection complexity, machine complexity, neighborhood reduction, f(z) = q signifies that the cell z is in state q. The con-
packing, parallel processing, pattern recognition, pattern trans- figuration before the first step is called the initial or input
formation. configuration. Initial configurations are denoted by zero
subscripts and configurations after k-steps are denoted by
I. INTRODUCTION k-subscripts.
We adopt the following usual conventions: pp =
CELLULAR automata were first introduced by von magnitude of p, LPJ = the largest integer no larger than
Neumann [10] as models of self-reproducing machines. p, [pl = the least integer no less than p. The distance
Since then they have attracted wide interest in computing between (ai,,a2, * * -,a.) and (bl,b2, * *,bn) along the ith
-
and pattern recognition. One problem, popularly known axis is ai - bi 1. x + y is the vector addition of x and
as neighborhood reduction, is ascertaining the tradeoff y, and nx = (n - 1)x + x.
between interconnection complexity and machine com- For completeness we also define the standard Jk and
plexity [1], 3], [5], [7], [9]. In Section III, we demon- Hik neighborhoods.
strate a tradeoff that is an improvement over Hamacher's For any k > 1, the set of n-tuples t (61,62,* * *n) Si <
conjectured values [4]. The noncomputability of the k for i = 1,2,- ,n } gives the J.-neighborhood.
constant of linearity of linear time pattern recognition For any k > 1, the set of n-tuples {(51,52,..--. 2n) | | I +
problems is established in Section IV, settling an open 32 | + * + an < k} gives the Hi-neighborhood. Thus
-
problem of Beyer [2]. Linearity of packing, a pattern any cell whose distance from a cell x is no more than k
transformation problem, is proved in Section V. The along every axis is a Jk-neighbor of x. Any cell such that
presentation is informal, at the expense of some precision. the sum of its distance from x along each of the n axes
is no more than k is an Hk-neighbor of x. These concepts
II. BASIC TERMINOLOGY are illustrated in Figs. 1 (a) and 1 (b).
An n-dimensional cellular automaton (n-D automaton) III. NEIGHBORHOOD REDUCTION
consists of an infinite number of identical finite state We introduce the neighborhood reduction problem with
machines (fsm's) one located at each point of In where I the simple example shown in Fig. 2. Cell z of M is in state
is the set of integers. We can also view an n-D automaton qZ, and cell z of M' is in state (q2Z,q2z+l). Informally we
as an n-dimensional regular array of cells, each of which say that the space of M is partitioned into 2 cell blocks
contains an fsm. We use (ai,a2,.. ,an), (b1,b2,2...bn)X*. and each block is stored in a single cell of M', preserving
to- de-note cells by their coordinates in n-D space, and topology (i.e., adjacent blocks are stored in adjacent cells).
x,y,-z... to denote cells when the coordinates are not Let the neighborhoods of M and M' be H2 and Hi, respec-
significant. When there is no ambiguity we refer to the tively. In one step, let each cell z of M go into state q,'.
"fsm in a cell" simply as the "cell" itself. The set of possi- Since M has H2 neighborhood, q22' and q2z+1' depend upon
ble states of each cell is the state set of the n-D automaton. q2z-2q2 z-I,q2z,q22z+lq2z+2, and q22z-lq22,q2z+l,q2z+2,q2z+8, respec-
There exists a unique finite set of n-tuples {I 1, 2,--.)II tively. In M', q2z-2,q2z-1,q2z,q2z+l,q2,+2 and q2z+3 are stored
known as the neighborhood. The next state of any cell x in the Hi neighbors of cell z. Thus in one step cell z of M'
depends deterministically upon the present states of its will change state from (q2z,q2.+1) to (q2,',q2z+l'). We say
neighbors: Ix + 1,X + 62,2 ,X + {n where x + ti is that M' with Hi neighborhood strongly simulates M with
H11 neighborhood.
Manuscript received January 24, 1973; revised December 12, In the neighborhood reduction problem, we are inter-
1973. Final revision supported by National Bureau of Standards, ested in strongly simulating an n-D automaton M having
under Contract FL13-3-35999. A preliminary version of this paper
was presented at the 6th Annual Princeton Conference on Informa- a certain neighborhood by another n-D automaton M'
tion Sciences and Systems, Princeton, N. J., 1972.
The author is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, which has a smaller neighborhood. To do this, we store
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. 21218. (compress) a certain number of cells of M in each cell of
562 I5EE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTERS, JUNE 1974
I_IA I T ll
F(g2g(qo I
( 2
M', such that each cell of M is stored in at least one cell n > 4 [7]. In the following, we give a reduction procedure
of M'. Then we verify that for any cell y of M, stored in valid for every n, which yields values of k that are never
cell x of M', all the neighbors of y in M are stored in the worse than Hamacher's conjectured values. For n = 2 and
neighbors of x in M'. The number of cells of M stored in a 3 the construction is the same as that of Hamacher.' The
single cell of M' is the compression factor. The following values are better than those reported in Smith [9]. In
definitions capture the above notions. addition the proof seems to be especially simple.
Let g be any function: In -- (I")*. If g(x) = (Y1,Y2,* , Theorem 1: Let M be an n-D automaton with J1-neigh-
yb), then let [g(x)] be the set {Yi,Y2,* . .,yk. Let M and borhood. We can effectively construct an n-D automaton
M' be any two n-D automata. M' with Hi-neighborhood which strongly simulates M
g is a compression function, with compression factor k, and has a compression factor less than 1 + (3n - 2) n.
if and only if Proof: We partition the n-D space of M into n X
n X * * * X n (n times) blocks, and then store each block
U [g(x)] =
xeIn into a single cell of M', preserving topology. In addition, if
cell y of a block in M is stored in cell x of M', as above,
A configuration c' of M' is the g-compression configura- then we additionally store in x all the cells of M which
tion of the configuration c (denoted by g[c]) of M if and are at a distance from y of at most n - 1 along one axis,
only if (Yx E I") (g(x) = (Y1,Y2, Y,yk) =Kc'(x) = (c(yI), n - 2 along another axis, n - 3 along a third axis, * *,0 -
c(y2),. )C(Yk)) along some axis. This mapping is made more precise in the
In Fig. 2 g(x) = (2x,2x + 1); k 2; c'(x) (q25, following.
=
q2x+l) c(2x) = q2. and c(2x + 1) = q2.+ . Let (d1,d,.2 . ,dd) <p (el,e2, ,en) if and only if there
M' strongly simulates M with g-compression if and only exists a permutation (d',d2t',...*dn') of (d1,d2, * *,dn) such
if for every initial configuration co of M, if M' is initially that di' < ei for i = 1,2,** *,n.
set in the configuration co' = g[co], then for any k > 1, Example: (1,3,0) <p (3,2,0) and (1,-4,0) 1p (3,2,0).
C = g[ciJ. Define a function hi: I- 2I" by
Given any n-D automaton with a finite neighborhood,
we can easily construct an n-D automaton with J1-neigh- hi(x) -nx + ( 1,62...25n) Si E O,1,2,* .,n - 1}
borhood which strongly simulates it. Cole [3] showed
that for any n-D automaton M with J1-neighborhood, we for i =1,2, n.
can construct an n-D automaton M' with Hi-neighborhood It is easily seen that hi has the following properties:
which strongly simulates M. But the compression factor
k involved in this reduction is of the order of (3n2)n. Since 1) For any x, h1(x) gives an n X n X X n block
k cells of M are compressed into one cell of M', large k's in the n-D space,
imply large fsm's for M'. 2) For any two distinctx1 and x2, hi(xi) C hi(x2)
Hamacher [4], [5] asks whether we can significantly 3) UJhi(x) =I.
reduce k. He gives a reduction procedure for n 2 and 3= xel n
and conjectures an extension for every n. But unfortu-
nately his conjecture turned out to be incorrect for any ' This fact, for n = 2, has been observed by one of the referees.
KOSARAJU: CELLULAR AUTOMATA AND OPEN PROBLEMS 563
0) 1__LL_1J
a <p (n - 1,n -21. L__
_ BI,
~
B
~~
]Ill - Ill
__
__
Fig. 4. Partitioning into regions. the process stops with solid top rows of blacks, with the
last row of blacks justified in the direction of the arrow
in that row. We conjecture that the transformation takes
bi 2 ci, then vi is set to a special state T and bi+1 = bi-Ci only linear time. If so, it can be trivially modified to give
is input to region Vi+1 through vi+1. a natural proof of the linearity of Tpek and 'bliack-
If vi is set to bi for i = 1, ** -,a and ba+i is the input to
Va+1, then b1 = Sic1 + * * * + £3aC + ba+1 and ba+i < n. REFERENCES
Phase 3 can be done in dsFlog2 ml Flog2 mnl + d4m steps [11 S. Amoroso and R. Guilfoyle, "Some comments on neighbor-
for some d3 and d4 (each comparison and subtraction takes hood size for tessellation automata," Inform. Contr., pp. 48-55,
1972.
at most 2Flog2 mnl steps and there are at most Flog2 ml [2] W. T. Beyer, "Recognition of topological invariants by iter-
such operations),. For every m,n > 1, Flog2 ml Flog2 mnl < ative arrays," MAC TR-66, Oct. 1969.
[31 S. N. Cole, "Real-time computation by n-dimensional iterative
Flog2 mn l1 < d6 (m + n) for some d6. Thus this phase can arrays of finite-state machines," IEEE Trans. Comput., vol.
be done within d6(m + n) steps, for some d6. C-18, pp. 349-365, Apr. 1969.
[41 V. C. Hamacher, "A class of parallel processing automata,"
Phase 4: Each vi in state T sends a signal which Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse Univ., Syracuse, N. Y., June 1968.
propagates along rows and columns, to set every cell in [5] , "Machine complexity versus interconnection complexity
in iterative arrays," IEEE Trans. Comput., vol. C-20, pp. 321-
Vi to black for i = 1,- * -,a. In the case of Va+., only the 323, Mar. 1971.
ba+i leftmost cells of row m are turned black. This phase [6] J. E. Hoperoft and J. D. Ullman, Formal Languages and their
Relation to Automata. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1969.
takes at most rm/21 + n steps. [7J S. R. Kosaraju, "Computations on iterative automata," Ph.D.
Phase 5: All the blacks formed in Phase 4 are dissertation, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa., Aug.
1969.
pushed up along columns to get the required packing. [8] A. R. Smith, III, "Two dimensional formal languages and
Packing is achieved since, in Phase 4, any row with a pattern recognition by cellular automata," in IEEE 12th
SWAT Conf. Proc., 1971, pp. 144-152.
black cell is completely black (except for possibly the [9] -, "Cellular automata complexity tradeoffs," Inform.
last row, and the blacks in the last row are left-justified). [10] J.Contr., pp. 466-482, 1971.
von Neumann, The Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata,
This phase takes at most d7m steps for some d7. A. W. Burks, Ed. Urbana, Ill.: Univ. of Illinois, 1966.
A few details, like making M halt on a packed configura- [11] Contr.,
H. Yamada and S. Amoroso, "Tessellation automata," Inform.
pp. 299-317, 1969.
tion, are omitted. Since each phase takes linear time, the
algorithm works in linear time. Q.E.D.
We propose another elegant packing algorithm, which
does not involve any binary conversions. On any m X n S. Rao Kosaraju was born in Andhra Pradesh,
India, on February 20, 1943. He received the
pattern, draw a right to left arrow along each odd num- B.E. degree in telecommunications from
bered row, and a left to right arrow along each even Andhra University, Andhra, India, in 1964,
numbered row. the M.Tech. degree in industrial electronics
from the Indian Institute of Technology,
Parallel Steps: A black moves up a column if the cell Kharagpur, in 1966, and the Ph.D. degree in
immediately above is empty (i.e., contains a white). A
electrical engineering from the University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in 1969.
Otherwise, if it can, it moves along the row in the direction From 1969 he has been an Assistant Pro-
of the arrow. If an empty cell can get a black both from fessor at The Johns Hopkins University,
a column and a row, then the column has preference. The Baltimore, Md. His research interests include theory of computing,
structured programming, and parallel processing.
various movements are illustrated in Fig. 5 (for clarity, He is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery and
whites are represented by blanks). It is easily seen that Sigma Xi.