Evolutionary Computing for Operating Point Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits

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Description/Abstract

The DC operating point of an electronic circuit is conventionally found using the Newton-Raphson method. This method is not globally convergent and can only find one solution of the circuit at a time. In this paper, evolutionary computing methods, including Genetic Algorithms, Evolutionary Programming, Evolutionary Strategies and Differential Evolution are explored as possible alternatives to Newton-Raphson. These techniques have been implemented in a trial simulator. Results are presented showing that Evolutionary Computing methods are globally convergent and can find multiple solutions to circuits. The CPU time for these new methods is poor compared with Newton-Raphson, but better implementations and the use of hybrid methods suggest that further work in this area would prove fruitful.