Conventional digital computation methods have run into a se- rious speed
bottleneck due to their serial nature. To overcome this problem, a new
computation model, called Neural Networks, has been proposed, which is
based on some aspects of neurobiology and adapted to integrated
circuits. The increased availability of com- puting power has not only
made many new applications possible but has also created the desire to
perform cognitive tasks which are easily carried out by the human brain.
It become obvious that new types of algorithms and/or circuits were
necessary to cope with such tasks. Inspiration has been sought from the
functioning of the hu- man brain, which led to the artificial neural
network approach. One way of looking at neural networks is to consider
them to be arrays of nonlinear dynamical systems that interact with each
other. This book deals with one class of locally coupled neural net-
works, called Cellular Neural Networks (CNNs). CNNs were intro- duced in
1988 by L. O. Chua and L. Yang [27,28] as a novel class of information
processing systems, which posseses some of the key fea- tures of neural
networks (NNs) and which has important potential applications in such
areas as image processing and pattern reco- gnition. Unfortunately, the
highly interdisciplinary nature of the research in CNNs makes it very
difficult for a newcomer to enter this important and fasciriating area
of modern science.