Introduction: special issue on evolvable hardware challenges

摘要

Evolvable Hardware, the application of evolutionary techniques as hardware design techniques, is still in its infancy despite a 15 year lifespan. After the initial excitement in the late 1990s there have been many successes but perhaps not at the rate or to the extent of the original expectations. There are many challenges inherent in Evolvable Hardware, not least the identification of suitable applications. Such challenges need to be addressed so as to unlock the true potential of the field. In putting together this special issue, it seemed timely, not only to have a special issue collecting quality papers from the field, but also to provide a collection where each contribution either addressed ongoing challenges and/or illustrated application areas where Evolvable Hardware can achieve results that are challenging for today's more traditional hardware design techniques.