Robust Error Correction in Infofuses

Abstract

An infofuse is a combustible fuse in which information is encoded through the patterning of metallic salts, with transmission in the optical range simply associated with burning. The constraints, advantages and unique error statistics of physical chemistry require us to rethink coding and decoding schemes for these systems. We take advantage of the non-binary nature of our signal with a single bit representing one of N=7 states to produce a code that, using a single or pair of intensity thresholds, allows the recovery of the intended signal with an arbitrarily high recovery probability, given reasonable assumptions about the distribution of errors in the system. An analysis of our experiments with infofuses shows that the code presented is consistent with these schemes, and encouraging for the field of chemical communication and infochemistry given the vast permutations and combinations of allowable non-binary signals.