A novel algorithm for online inexact string matching and its FPGA implementation
Among the basic cognitive skills of the biological brain in humans and other mammals, a fundamental one is the ability to recognize inexact patterns in a sequence of objects or events. Accelerating inexact string matching procedures is of utmost importance when dealing with practical applications where huge amounts of data must be processed in real time, as usual in bioinformatics or cybersecurity. Inexact matching procedures can yield multiple shadow hits, which must be filtered, according to some criterion, to obtain a concise and meaningful list of occurrences.