Intermittent stream

An intermittent stream is a stream of spaceships which is based on a periodic stream, but which can contain holes where some of the spaceships are not present. There is a base period for the intermittent stream such that if a spaceship arrives at a specific location, then it always does so at a generation which is a multiple of the base period. For example, the output from a period 30 glider gun where every third glider is deleted is an intermittent stream. A pseudo-random glider generator can produce a complicated intermittent stream with no obvious pattern.

x = 55, y = 69, rule = B3/S23 37bo$35b3o$34bob$34b2ob6$29b2o3b2ob$29bobobobo$30b5o$31b3ob$32bo6$34b 2o$34bo$35b3o$14bo22bo$10b2o2b2ob3o$10b2o4b4o$14b2o2$8bo29bo2bo$6b3o 28bo3b2o2b2o$5bo31bo7bo$5b2o19bo11b4o8b2o$24b3o23bo$23bo12bo1$23b2o3b o6b2o$28b3o4bobob$31bo$30b2o$2o3b2o$9b3o$o5bo4bo6b2o3b2o$10bo8b5o$b2o b2o14b3o$3bo17bo8b2o3b2o12b5o$15b3o12bo5bo11bob3obo$15bo33bo3bo$5bo 10bo14bo3bo14b3o$4bobo25b3o16bo$3bo3bo41b2o$3b5o40bobo$2b2o3b2o39bobo $3b5o41bo$4b3o11b3o$5bo$18bobo14bo10b2obob2o$17b5o11b2ob2o8bo5bo$16b 2o3b2o24bo3bo$16b2o3b2o9bo5bo9b3o2$32b2o3b2o3$5b2o$5bo2$18b2o28b2o$ 18bo29bo2$35b2o$35bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 7 WIDTH 800 HEIGHT 600 AUTOSTART ]]

p30 cordpuller gun deletes every third glider (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

Intermittent streams can be used to transmit signals, where holes in the stream can also convey information. For example, the stream can be processed by an inverter having the same period.

External links

• Intermittent stream at the Life Lexicon