Modern analog computing for solving differential and matrix equations
Analog computing is gaining renewed interest from artificial intelligence and scientific computing demands. We term the evolving landscape modern analog computing, identifying three core primitives—solving differential equations, solving matrix equations, and performing matrix-vector multiplications—and exploring their interconnections and hardware implementations, from discrete components to integrated circuits and resistive memory devices. We then survey recent progress in solving differential and matrix equations using CMOS analog circuits and resistive memory arrays. Finally, we discuss applications, precision and scalability challenges, in-memory computing relationships, and the computational complexity of analog computing, providing a unified perspective on this emerging field.
Authors
- Abu Sebastian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5603-5243)
- Manuel Le Gallo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1600-6151)
- Piergiulio Mannocci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0083-5804)
- Zhong Sun
Institutions
- Peking University (CN)
- IBM Research - Zurich (CH)
- Politecnico di Milano (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Unconventional Computing
- Published
- 2026-11-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s44335-026-00108-x
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Memory and Neural Computing
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project