Simple driven maps as sensitive devices

Sensitive dependence of nonlinear systems on initial conditions or paramete rs can be useful in applications. We propose in this paper that bubbling be havior in simple driven symmetrical maps may be used as a working principle of sensitive devices. The system is stable when there is no input and disp lays bursting behavior when there is small input. The symmetrical property of the bursting pattern is very sensitive to the bias of the noisy inputs, which makes the system promising for detecting weak signals among noisy env ironment.