Genetic Algorithms: Will the PLD Companies Know What Hit Them?

Business Wire, March 26, 1999

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 26, 1999--A recently published Semico Impact Bulletin, "Genetic Algorithms: Will the PLD Companies Know What Hit Them?" explains a radical new technique for embedded device control called "Genetic Algorithms."

The technique, in which a programmable gate array is allowed to "grow" its own internal logic, borrows heavily from the field of genetics. Potential designs are optimized by a "survival of the fittest" process, in which successful "ancestors" (pre-cursor designs) pass on their intelligence to their descendants using a process resembling the action of DNA.

Genetic Algorithms thus help to produce their own code. This makes them useful for solving problems that are not yet fully mathematically described, or which are so complex that they cannot easily be mathematically described.

In other words, Genetic Algorithms are good for a set of problems that we don't know how to solve, but for which we can recognize a good solution when we see it. Genetic Algorithms operate directly at the hardware level, effectively promoting a programmable logic device (PLD), such as a FPGA or Complex PLD (CPLD), into an embedded controller.

Applied to a myriad of control problems, the use of Genetic Algorithms could save untold labor and calculation in product design and equipment maintenance. This, potentially, is a huge market.

"Genetic Algorithms: Will the PLD Companies Know What Hit Them?" presents an overview of Genetic Algorithm technology from the ground up. In simple language it describes how Genetic Algorithms work, and how they are implemented. It details the countries and industries that currently seem to be in the lead with Genetic Algorithm research.

Finally, it lists the set of companies that Semico feels are most likely to be in position to exploit this new technology, and the exciting new market it offers. "Genetic Algorithms: Will the PLD Companies Know What Hit Them?" is available for immediate shipment. The list price is $500.

Semico Research Corp., is a leader in providing semiconductor market analysis, research and custom consulting. Its headquarters are in Phoenix, with offices in northern California and Boston as well as in Europe and in Japan. Other products and services are available at the Semico Research Corp. web site at www.semico.com.

Contact: Morry Marshall, 602/997-0337 ext. 108, morrym@semico.com Semico Research Corp. 7419 N. 16th Street No. 202, Phoenix, AZ 85020.