A network of phase oscillators as a device for sequential pattern generation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a system of coupled phase oscillators that can generate and reliably reproduce sequential patterns, functioning similarly to neural central pattern generators for temporal sequence production.

Contribution

The authors design a novel oscillator network architecture capable of storing and sequentially retrieving patterns based on phase differences, with high robustness to perturbations.

Findings

Successfully generates periodic pattern sequences

Robust against perturbations in retrieval process

Analogous to neural central pattern generators

Abstract

We design a system of phase oscillators that is able to produce temporally periodic sequences of patterns. Patterns are cluster partitions which encode information as phase differences between phase oscillators. The architecture of our system consists of a retrieval network with N globally coupled phase oscillators, a pacemaker that controls the sequence retrieval, and a set of patterns stored in the couplings between the pacemaker and the retrieval network. The system performs in analogy to a central pattern generator of neural networks and is very robust against perturbations in the retrieval process.