Fig. 1: Conceptual and schematic design.

a Conceptual diagram of the proposed hybrid computational architecture comprising an array of chemical reactors. The top figure shows hybrid digital–chemical information processing within single and coupled hybrid logical units. The bottom figure demonstrates a single processing step of the hybrid state machine with information looping between digital and chemical domains. Here, D, P, C & T represent digital, physical, chemical and transfer state machines (with \({\rm {C{S}}}_{{\rm {a}}}\equiv \underline{{\rm {C{S}}}_{i}^{t}}\,{\rm {and}}\,{\rm {C{S}}}_{{\rm {d}}}\equiv {\rm {C{S}}}_{i}^{t}\)). b Shows a pictorial representation of how the information propagates together with local information processing in the chemical array. The weakly connected network in the chemical medium provides the global clock (SYNC signal) on which the local interactions process information and perform computational operations. c and d Schematic diagram of the two-dimensional Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ)-based hybrid computation architecture showing how local cellular vortices interact by tuning the speed of the interfacial stirrers. The amplitude of the oscillations is controlled by the speed of the cell stirrers and can be used to define discrete states for information processing. Due to the well-defined periodic behaviour in the weak coupling limit, these oscillations can also be used to create a global clocking SYNC signal for decision-making.