Stochastic Resonance: From Suprathreshold Stochastic Resonance to Stochastic Signal Quantization

by Mark D. McDonnell, Nigel G. Stocks, Charles E. M. Pearce, Derek Abbott

Overview

The stochastic resonance phenomenon has been observed in many forms of systems and has been debated by scientists for 30 years. Applications incorporating aspects of stochastic resonance have yet to prove revolutionary in fields such as distributed sensor networks, nano-electronics, and biomedical prosthetics. The initial chapters review stochastic resonance basics and outline some of the controversies and debates that have surrounded it. The book continues to discuss stochastic quantization in a model where all threshold devices are not necessarily identical, but are still independently noisy. Finally, it considers various constraints and tradeoffs in the performance of stochastic quantizers. Each chapter ends with a review summarizing the main points, and open questions to guide researchers into finding new research directions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521882620
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/02/2008
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Mark D. McDonnell is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Telecommunications Research, University of South Australia. Prior to this, he was at The University of Adelaide. His research interests are in the field of nonlinear signal processing, and bio-inspired engineering.

Nigel G. Stocks is a Professor in the School of Engineering at Warwick University. His research lies in stochastic nonlinear systems and biometrics.

Charles E. M. Pearce is Thomas Elder Professor of Mathematics at the School of Mathematics, University of Adelaide, and is editor of several journals.

Derek Abbott is a Professor in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Adelaide. He has received several awards and has been editor or guest editor on a number of journals.

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Introduction and motivation; 2. Stochastic resonance: its definitions, history and debates; 3. Stochastic quantization; 4. Suprathreshold stochastic resonance: encoding; 5. Suprathreshold stochastic resonance: large N encoding; 6. Suprathreshold stochastic resonance: decoding; 7. Suprathreshold stochastic resonance: large N decoding; 8. Optimal stochastic quantization; 9. SSR, neural coding, and performance tradeoffs; 10. Stochastic resonance in the auditory system; 11. The future of stochastic resonance and suprathreshold stochastic resonance; Appendices; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"… the joint authors of this book adopt a pragmatic approach to these essentially semantic issues and point to the widespread acceptance and use of terminology as a justification for giving attention to more substantive issues associated with understanding and using stochastic resonance in its several forms. … the authors have rendered a major service to a multi-disciplinary research community which can benefit from the clarity of exposition offered in this book. It is to be hoped that that community will repay its debt to these authors by taking forward wherever possible applications of stochastic resonance."
Contemporary Physics

From the Publisher