Analog and Hybrid Computer Programming

by Bernd Ulmann

Analog and hybrid computing recently have gained much interest as analog computers can outperform classical stored-program digital computers in some areas by orders of magnitude. This book gives a thorough introduction to analog and hybrid computer programming by means numerous worked examples from various areas. It is based on a number of introductory and advanced lectures on this topic delivered by the author at several universities

300 pages, Paperback

Published February 20, 2020

Reviews

[Jonathan Jeckell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Analog computing seems like it has a lot of useful applications and advantages, especially when combined with digital computing in a hybrid computer. It looks like there's a lot of overlap with things you might want to do with a system dynamic simulation. I'm going to have to think for a while about how extensively they overlap and what is still unique in a system dynamic simulation. But even where they overlap I think I'd prefer to run a system dynamic model to figure things out because it's a lot more flexible than physically wiring a system. If I had to build something that ran the same setup on ongoing basis the analog computer looks like a winner.

and the book explicitly showed how this is advantageous for solving complex differential equations and even helping train artificial intelligence. I could also see this as being very useful for working with radios, RADAR, electronic warfare, SIGINT, etc, where you send or receive information in an analog format.

Besides the energy advantages where an analog computer can solve the same problems as a digital computer, the book also mentions inherent security because the code is embodied in the hardware.

Certainly gave me a lot to think about.