Controlling spatiotemporal chaos in excitable media using an array of control points

TL;DR

This paper introduces a control method using an array of points to suppress spiral turbulence in excitable media, such as cardiac tissue, by sequentially applying low-amplitude signals to restore normal activity.

Contribution

It presents a novel, spatially extended control scheme that effectively terminates spatiotemporal chaos in excitable media, even with medium heterogeneities.

Findings

Effective suppression of spiral turbulence demonstrated

Robust control despite medium heterogeneities

Sequential control wave drives the medium to a stable state

Abstract

The dynamics of activation waves in excitable media can give rise to spiral turbulence, the resulting spatiotemporal chaos being associated with empirical biological phenomena such as life-threatening disturbances in the natural rhythm of the heart. In this paper, we propose a spatially extended but non-global scheme using an array of control points for terminating such spatiotemporally chaotic excitations. A low-amplitude control signal is applied sequentially at each point on the array, resulting in a traveling wave of excitation in the underlying medium which drives away the turbulent activity. Our method is robust even in the presence of significant heterogeneities in the medium, which have often been an impediment to the success of other control schemes.