A Binary Data Structure for Membrane Processors: Connectivity Arrays

This paper defines membrane processors as digital processors capable of implementing local processing performed inside membranes in transition P systems. In order to encode the membrane structures of transition P systems, additional binary data structures are needed. Such binary data structures are named ”connectivity arrays”. The main purposes of the connectivity arrays are to distribute information about the system membrane structure among the different processors that implement the transition P system, and to facilitate communication processes among different membrane processors. The information kept in processor has to be versatile and compact; versatile means to easily permit changes in the membrane structure of the system processors, and compact means that not too much memory space is needed.Considering these two requests, a binary word of variable length is considered here in order to represent in membrane processors the local information about the membrane structures of transition P systems. This paper presents the abstract data type “connectivity array” which defines the data structure and the needed operations over it in order to parse the P system into a membrane processor tree and to keep congruent the P system membrane structure with the membrane processor tree.