Wave Digital Emulation of a Light-Modulated Central Pattern Generator

Neuronal networks can not only adapt themselves to their environment through learning, but also by processing sensory information. The latter can even be observed from very simple animals and elementary neuronal circuits such as central pattern generators. Inspired by the visual stimulus processing of Hydra, our aim in this work is to design a bio-inspired electrical circuit mimicking a simple light-modulated central pattern generator. To this end, we use a Morris-Lecar model with light-gated leakage channel as a pacemaker neuron model. Moreover, we exploit two nonlinear resistive voltage sources as inhibitory synapse models that enable the generation of a basic neuronal rhythmic activity. Finally, we emulate an electrical circuit mimicking an exemplary central pattern generator stimulated by light by wave digital principles. Emulation results show that the firing rate of the mimicked central pattern generator indeed increases as the strength of the light stimulus is raised.