A new technique, which is based on Cellular Automata (CA) computing, is being investigated for achieving massive compression of data. The method involves the Applications of Boolean algebra. CA are dynamical systems in which space and time are discrete and the cells have a finite number of states. The cells are conventionally arranged in the form of a regular lattice structure. The states of the cells are updated synchronously according to a local rule of interaction. The research makes use of the special characteristics of a group of CA to evolve through certain states regardless of the complexity of their initial configuration.For certain kinds of data, the method is capable of high quality compression ratios in excess of 10,000:1. The technology is applicable to a wide spectrum of data sources including those derived from images, text files, audio, and communication devices. The technique is particularly suited for real-time data compression because of the Boolean nature of the computational process.Commercial Applications:The Commercial potential is huge. The technology will impact industries such as telecommunications, cable television, computer data storage, aerospace, defense, etc. Three different products will be developed from this research. A CA software compressor/decompressor is the immediate product. The second is a VLSI implementation of the CA code. The third are board-level products based on the VLSI chip.
