From Scholarpedia - Reading time: 7 min
Chaotic Spiking Oscillators (CSOs) are continuous-time autonomous circuits including an integrate-and-fire (IAF) switch and have the following properties.
Contents |
Chaotic circuits do not imply just a realization method of existing mathematical models but important real physical systems to investigate interesting nonlinear phenomena (Matsumoto, Chua and Komuro 1985; Maggio G. M., Feo O. D., Kennedy M. P. 1999; Ekwakil A. S., Kennedy M. P. 2001 ). A variety of nonlinear elements are used in existing chaotic circuits and the IAF switch is used in the CSO. In Fig. 1, \(N\) is a linear sub-circuit and \(S\) is the IAF switch. If the capacitor voltage \(v_1\) reaches a threshold voltage \(V_T\ ,\) \(v_1\) is reset to the base voltage \(E\ ,\) instantaneously. If the sub-circuit \(N\) consists of resistors and dependent sources, it can be replaced with the Thevenin equivalent sub-circuit and the circuit can exhibit periodic waveforms as shown in Fig. 1 (b). This periodic behavior is basic for an integrate-and-fire neuron model which can be a building block of PCNN (Mirollo and Strogatz 1990; Hopfield and Herz 1995). Applications of PCNNs include image processing (Campbell, Wang and Jayaprakash 1999), associative memory (Izhikevich 1999) and Spike-based communication (M. Maggio, Rulkov and Reggiani 2001).
If the sub-circuit \(N\) includes one memory element (inductor or capacitor) as shown in Fig.1 (c), the circuit can become a CSO. In this case the IAF switch causes vibrate-and-fire dynamics that relates deeply to resonant-and-fire neuron models (Izhikevich 2001).
If \(N\) includes 1 or more memory elements, \(v_1\) can vibrate below the threshold and the IAF switch can cause chaotic behavior. Fig. 2 shows a simple example of the CSO. In the figure \(-R\) is a linear negative resistor. If the capacitor voltage \(v\) is below the threshold \(V_T\ ,\) the switch \(S\) is opened and the circuit dynamics is described by
\( C\frac{dv_1}{dt} = i, \ \ L\frac{di}{dt} = - v_1 + R i, \ \ \mbox{ for } v_1 < V_T. \ \ \ (1) \)
\(v_1\) is assumed to vibrate divergently. As \(v_1\) reaches \(V_T\ ,\) the comparator COMP triggers the monostable multivibrator MM to output an impulse \(v_o\ .\) The impulse \(v_o\) closes the IAF switch \(S\) and \(v_1\) is reset to the base \(E\) instantaneously holding the continuity property of \(i\ :\)
\( ( v_1(t^+), i(t^+) ) = ( E, i(t) ), \quad \mbox{ if } v_1(t) = V_T. \ \ \ (2) \)
Repeating IAF switching the circuit generate chaos. Using discrete elements such as op-amps, this circuit can be fabricated easily and chaotic behavior can be confirmed experimentally as shown in Fig. 3.
Note that there exist various CSOs with two memory elements: applying the IAF switch to some oscillator (e.g., Wien bridge oscillator ), we obtain a CSO.
We assume that Equation (1) has unstable complex characteristic root \(\delta \omega \pm j \omega\ :\)
\( \omega^2=\frac{1}{LC}-\left(\frac{R}{2L}\right)^2>0, \;\; \delta = \frac{R}{2 \omega L}>0. \ \ \ (3) \)
In this case \(v_1\) can vibrate divergently below the threshold \(V_T\ .\) The divergent vibration and the IAF switching correspond to stretching and folding mechanisms, respectively, which are fundamental for chaos generation. Using the following dimensionless variables and parameters\[ \tau=\omega t,\ q=\frac{E}{V_T}, \ x=\frac{v_1}{V_T} \ y=-\frac{\delta}{V_T}v+\frac{1}{\omega C V_T}i, \ \ \ (4) \]
Equations (1) and (2) are transformed into the following.
\( \begin{array}{c} \left( \begin{array}{c} \dot{x}\\ \dot{y} \end{array} \right) = \left( \begin{array}{cc} \delta & 1\\ -1 & \delta \end{array} \right) \left( \begin{array}{c} x\\ y \end{array} \right) \mbox{ for } x < 1 \ \ \ (5)\\ \\ \mbox{SW: } (x(\tau^+), y(\tau^+))=(q, y(\tau)-\delta(1-q)) \mbox{ if } x_1(\tau)=1 \end{array} \)
where \(\dot{x} \equiv dx/d\tau\) and \(p=\delta\ .\) This dimensionless equation is characterized by two parameters \(\delta\) and \(q\) which can be controlled by \(-R\) and \(E\ ,\) respectively. This equation can reproduce chaotic attractor as shown in Fig. 4.
Note that the case \(p \ne \delta\) governs wider class of CSOs (Mitsubori and Saito 2000).
The circuit dynamics can be analyzed using 1-D return map. Some objects of the map are shown in Fig. 5: the domain of the map \(L_d=\{(x,y)\;|\;x=0,\; y\ge0\}\ ,\) the threshold line \(L_T=\{(x,y)|\;x=1 \}\ ,\) and the base line \(L_q=\{(x,y)|\;x=q \}\ .\) Let a point on these objects be represented by their \(y\)-coordinate. Also let \(D\) be a point on \(L_d\) such that a trajectory started from \(D\) touches \(L_T\) within half period.
For the case \(q>0\) let a trajectory start from a point \(y_0\) on \(L_d\) at \(\tau=0\ .\) If \(0<y_0<D\ ,\) the trajectory return to \(L_d\) at \(\tau=2\pi\) without reaching \(L_T\ .\) If \(D \le y_0\ ,\) the trajectory hits the threshold \(L_T\) and is reset to the base \(L_q\ .\) Then the trajectory re-starts from \(L_q\) and returns to \(L_d\ .\) Since any trajectory started from \(y_0\) on \(L\) must return to \(L_d\ ,\) a 1-D return map can be defined\[ y_1 = f(y_0), \ f: L_d \rightarrow L_d \ \ \ (6) \]
where \(y_1\) is the return point on \(L_d\ .\) That is, the circuit dynamics can be integrated into the iteration \(y_{n+1} = f(y_n)\) as shown in Fig. 5.
Using exact piecewise solution of Equation (3), the return map can be described and chaos generation can be guaranteed theoretically (Nakano and Saito 2002) in the sense of ergodic and positive Lyapunov exponent (Lasota and Mackey). The theoretical results can be extended for the case \(q<0\) and other CSO examples (Mitsubori and Saito 2000).
The CSO can be developed into a variety of interesting systems:
Prospective engineering applications include flexible image processing and spike-based communications (Nakano and Saito 2004).
Among the several possible electronic realizations of chaotic spiking oscillators, one can find neurally-inspired circuits wherein electrical variables have clear physiological counterparts (Indiveri et al., 2011) as well as more compact circuits where this is not the case, and which more closely exploit the physical characteristics of semiconductor devices, such as bipolar junction transistors, to realize spiking dynamics. A particularly simple example of the latter was recently discovered in a study wherein a large number of atypical transistor circuits were derived from a random search (Minati et al., 2017). As shown in Fig. 6, this circuit comprises a network of three inductors and one capacitor, two discrete transistors, and one resistor connected in series to a DC voltage source which acts as the main control parameter. It generates trains of spikes having nearly-quantized amplitude and irregular spacing.
To some extent, the dynamics of this physical circuit can be captured by representing each transistor with exponential current sources and associated junction capacitances, yielding
\( \dot{v}_1=\left((V-v_1)/R-i_1-i_a\left(e^{v_1/kV_T}-1\right)\right)/C_1\\ \dot{v}_2=\left(i_1-i_2-i_b/\beta\right)/C_2\\ \dot{v}_3=\left(i_2-i_3+i_b/\beta+i_b\left(e^{(v_4-v_3)/kV_T}-1\right)\right)/C_3\\ \dot{v}_4=\left(i_3-i_b\left(e^{(v_4-v_3)/kV_T}-1\right)-i_a/\beta\right)/C_4\\ \dot{i}_1=(v_1-v_2)/L_1\\ \dot{i}_2=(v_2-v_3)/L_2\\ \dot{i}_3=(v_3-v_4)/L_3 \)
where \(i_a=I_se^{v_4/V_T}\) and \(i_b=I_se^{(v_2-v_3)/V_T}\), \(L_1=15\mu\textrm{H}\), \(L_2=68\mu\textrm{H}\), \(L_3=150\mu\textrm{H}\), \(R=40\Omega\), \(V=5\textrm{V}\), \(V_T=0.025\textrm{V}\), \(C_1=C_2=C_4=0.2\textrm{pF}\), \(C_3=470\textrm{pF}\), \(\beta=75\), \(I_s=0.5\textrm{fA}\) and \(k=20\).
While inherently less suitable for neat mathematical tractation, physical realizations of this kind find relevance in the construction of experimental networks, for which implementation using operational amplifiers, switching elements and multipliers generally leads to considerably larger circuits.
Internal references
Voltage-Controlled Oscillations in Neurons, LEGION: Locally Excitatory Globally Inhibitory Oscillator Networks, Bifurcation, Rossler Attractor, Spike-and-Wave Oscillations