Analog Computing

Analog computing is a computational paradigm next to digital computing and quantum computing. It is particularly suitable for creating and using highly energy-efficient feedback-based models of dynamic systems, i.e., systems that change according to known relationships. Examples of dynamic systems include market economies, the spread and control of diseases, population dynamics, nutrient absorption, nuclear chain reactions, and as we will see below, mechanical systems. Models of dynamic systems are useful for reasons similar to those for which architectural models are useful in architecture and crash test dummies are useful in car safety engineering – models offer insights into matters that would be too difficult, laborious, expensive, or harmful to study in and of themselves. Analog computing is currently making a comeback. Several projects we undertake at the Design Cybernetics Group rely on or develop analog computing and analog-digital hybrid computing, using in most cases on THE ANALOG THING – a tabletop analog computer for educational purposes. The analog computing paradigm is explained here and here in some more detail. The following video outlines the relationships between systems, cybernetics, analog computing and feedback.