Mycelium-based ELM Emulation Utilizing Memristive Oscillating Cellular Automata

Engineered Living Materials (ELMs) represent a novel class of materials that possess intrinsic properties and capabilities inspired by living organisms. Among ELMs, fungalmycelium stands out due to its low-cost manufacturing process, ubiquity in nature, and significant environmental benefits owing to its biodegradability. Modeling mycelium’s complex behaviors challenges scientists due to its intricate natural phenomena, leading to the adoption of digital twins for accurate simulationsand deeper insights. Memristors, with their unique statetransition capabilities and non-volatility, emerge as promising for implementing a low-power, efficient digital twin of mycelium, demonstrating versatility aross various applications beyond conventional hardware limits. This paper explores the use of memristive nanoelectronic circuits to simulate the evolution of biological mycelium hyphae, introducing a novel computational approach, Memristive Oscillating Cellular Automaton (MOCA), to model the dynamic behavior of mycelium. The MOCA design mirrors the activator and suppressor processes observed in reaction-diffusion systems, thus simulating mycelium tip growth and branching patterns. The simulation results demonstrate the successful propagation of oscillating signals across a MOCA grid, reflecting the biological pathwayswithin mycelium.