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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document from the Defense Intelligence Agency, dated 10 December 2010, is one of a series of advanced technology reports produced in FY 2010 under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It reviews quantum computing technologies and DNA-based molecular computing for onboard supercomputing on future spacecraft. It forecasts ion-trap quantum computers within 10 years, simple DNA tile computing within 20 years, and self-repairing DNA computers on a 40-year horizon.
“The Advance”7 pages
UNCLASSIFIED/ ;(f8R: 8FFll!IJlitL ~81!! 9HLY INTRODUCTION Computers today are not what they used to be. In the 17 th century, a computer was merely a person who performs computations. In this sense, the first computers were universally programmable and were ultimately utilizing organic (DNA) hardware architecture. The modern sense of a computer as a machine that manipulates input to produce deterministic output emerged from the work of Turing in the 1930s. A Turing machine consists of four parts: tape containing cells of symbols, read head, action table, and state register. In operation, the state register is initialized, the first cell of the tape is read by the head, the table translates the symbol into an action in the state register, and the tape is advanced to read the next symbol. The read, action, advance tape loop is repeated until the program ends.(1) Any calculation a modern digital computer can perform can be accomplished using a Turing machine.a Modern digital processing hardware, first used in the ENIAC in the 1950s, is based on logic gates. All functions of a computer consist of the basic logic elements AND, OR, NOT, etc. These are accomplished electronically by producing logic gates, combinations of transistors that perform the logic function on input data. A common exercise in didactic digital logic pedagogy is to design all of the basic logic gates using only NANO or NOR gates; thus, any hardware element that can execute the NANO function can build a complete computer.b Optimum designs are regularly more elegant than combining a single two-input gate, but it is sufficient as proof of principle for any architecture to be able to produce an inverter and a simple logic gate (AND/OR). The quest for faster computing can be accomplished by making current hardware architecture faster, or by designing new hardware based on different architecture that solves the calculation in fewer steps. The current treatise concentrates on the latter, dramatically changing the architecture of modern computers to perform calculations in a different manner. Two methods are explored: that of creating logic gates, and that of creating a general Turing machine. The second of these is explored in the context of quantum computing with an emphasis on organic molecules as a core technology. Designs of logic gates utilizing DNA are covered. Background on all these areas of research is included first. Finally, DNA machines that can assemble and repair DNA technology are outlined. ULTRAFAST COMPUTING POWER IN AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS The history of manned spaceflight does not include powerful computers as integrated companions; space-borne supercomputers have so far been reserved to the world of science fiction. The main issue on space stations has been radiation hardness, while the main issue on vehicles such as the space shuttle has been safety. The amount of testing required for a microprocessor to be certified for space precludes the most current technology from becoming astro-worthy. Indeed, the most powerful general purpose computers riding in the shuttle are the laptops the astronauts bring with them. 0 The complete history of computers up until the 1950s is a fascinating story. A good summary of this history is available in the Wikipedia entries for "computer" and "Turing machine" among other places. The model of a Turing machine presented is simplified. "The didactic exercise is usually followed by a laboratory exercise on breadboards and measurement of the truth table. NANO gates are popular because they are particularly simple to manufacture with current technology. 7 UNCLASSIFIED/ ;«F8R: 8FFHiil.«1k Wlili SUik¥
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 54 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.