Energy-Driven Cellular Automaton (EDCA) is proposed as a class of asynchronous CA, with update patterns based on the use of energy-related constraints. EDCA cells modify their states following the same rules of classical CA, but these changes are allowed only when cells are energy-enabled. Energy is distributed through lattice in form of unitary energy portions (spots), which have their own dynamic rules, and also change state due to interaction with cells.

Spots play active role in CA dynamics: a cell can suffer a transition only if it is covered by certain amount of “energy”, that means, it is under influence of certain minimal number of spots. Spots can be “positive” or “negative”, thus allowing increasing or decreasing value of the cell state respectively. Every spot involved in this kind of interaction consequently switch its sign to opposite and moves to affected cell´s location. Changes in spots become effective at the next step, after they are used.

EDCA operation can be resumed as follows:

-Cell states are integer numbers.

-At certain step, there are cells willing to change state as expected from the update rule . There is also a number of “free” spots covering some of those cells. Covering means that the cell belongs to the “coverage zone” of the spot, which, as consequence of its own local rule, can be expanded every time step. Spots may get value only from set {-1,1}.

-If a cell expects a growth in some quantity P, and it succeeds in “recruiting” P positive spots, at the next step the cell state grows by P, and involved spots become negative along with moving to the given cell location.

-If a cell expects its state to decrease in some quantity N, and it succeeds in “recruiting” N negative spots, at the next step the cell value is reduced by N, and involved spots become positive along with moving to the given cell location.

-Cells not activated by sufficient number of spots, remain unchanged.

–Spots not involved in any cell transition keep their sign and location, and continue spreading over the cellular space according to its own rule.

–Energy Incidence Criterion establishes rules for cells to “recruit” spots:

• A spot may participate in only one cell transition.
• Cells and spots select each other for “engaging” following some specified order.
• A cell should “recruit” a sufficient number of spots.

The presence of appropriate number of “free” spots allows CA to work, thus further releasing other spots, which will be ready to activate new cells on the next step.

See EDCA formal description for deeper mathematical details.