Nonlinear dynamic conversion of analog signals into excitation patterns.
Local periodic perturbations induce frequency-dependent propagation waves in an excitable spatiotemporally chaotic system. We show how segments of noise-contaminated and chaotic perturbations induce characteristic sequences of excitations in the model system. Using a set of "tuned" excitable systems, it is possible to characterize signals by their spectral composition of excitation pattern. As an example, we analyze an epileptic "spike-and-wave" time series.