Fast shortest path optimization inspired by shuttle streaming of Physarum polycephalum

Abstract

The plasmodium of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum, a large amoeboid organism, displays remarkable intelligent behaviors such as solving mazes, shuttle streaming and event anticipation. These amoeboid behaviors are results of the dynamics of the viscoelastic protoplasm and its biochemical rhythms. Having inspired by the intelligence shown by this primitive organism without a nerve system to solve mazes, we proposed mathematical models to mimic the intelligent foraging behavior that can be used to find the shortest path between two points of a graph. In result, we found that the convergence of the proposed two versions, Physarum Optimization with Shuttle Streaming (POSS) and POSS with mutation, are 40-11650 times faster when compared with the currently available Physarum Solver (PS) method and the results obtained are comparable.

Cell fusion through slime mould network dynamics

“…We shall next describe the shuttle-streaming model following [11]. This model is based on three biological observations about P. polycephalum : open-ended tubes gradually disappear;when two tubes connect the same food sources, the longer one disappears;outside changes such as the addition of nutrients can cause changes to the rhythmic contractions and shuttle streaming of Physarum . Shuttle streaming is the flow of protoplasm through Physarum ’s tubes and plays an important role in chemical signalling.…”

“…Physarum has also been shown to be able to share information and fuse with other Physarum organisms [7]. Recently, several mathematical models inspired by Physarum have been developed to approach problems such as the shortest path or Steiner tree problems [8][9][10][11].…”

“…We shall begin this paper by introducing in §2 some of the different models used in the literature to study P. polycephalum, paying particular attention to the flow-conductivity model [10], the cellular model [8], the multi-agent model [9] and the shuttle-streaming model [11].…”

Cell fusion through slime mold network dynamics

“…Experiments have shown that Physarum Polycephalum in this plasmodium state is able to solve mazes, find the shortest path, build highquality networks between multiple points, adapt and respond to stimulus, and also remember past events [2,12,17]. Recently, several mathematical models inspired by Physarum have been developed to approach problems such as the shortest path or Steiner tree problems [3,4,7,14].…”

“…We shall begin this paper by introducing in Section II some of the different models used in the literature to study Physarum Polycephalum, paying particular attention to the flow-conductivity model [3], the cellular model [4], the multi-agent model [7], and the shuttle-streaming model [14].…”