SelfüReplication Mechanism by Means of SelfüReconfiguration

Ontogenetic hardware, along with epigenetic (neural) hardware and phylogenetic (evolvable) hardware, are the key representatives of a new hardware conception paradigm known as bioüinspired hardware. Ontogenesis is the process that allows living beings to develop by means of mechanisms as growing, selfüreplication, and selfürepair. During the last few years, such ontogenetic mechanisms have been presented as a solution for the design of complex electronic circuits, with the goal of coping with the increasing complexity envisioned for future nanoütechnology devices. This paper presents an ontogenetic mechanism that allows a system, implemented in a reconfigurable device, to selfüreplicate, generating an identical copy of itself, by partially selfüreconfiguring the device containing it in a dynamic way.