AEU - International Journal of Electronics and Communications, 2003
The ever-shorter time-to-market calls for efficient robust IC design algorithms. Robust circuits ... more The ever-shorter time-to-market calls for efficient robust IC design algorithms. Robust circuits satisfy all design requirements across a range of operating conditions and manufacturing process variations. In the paper we propose an automated robust IC design and optimization process derived from the design algorithms utilized manually by experienced analog IC designers. We achieve this by transforming the robust design and optimization problem into a constrained optimization problem using tradeoff planes and penalty functions. We illustrate the method on a robust differential amplifier design problem. Circuits resulting from several different optimization runs show that a computer can not only improve existing circuit designs but it can also size a circuit with very little initial knowledge. The resulting circuits have comparable or even superior performance to humanly designed circuits. The method could easily take advantage of parallel processing but is still efficient enough to be run on a single computer.
Izboljšan MESFET model za računalniško analizo popačenj z zveznimi odvodi višjih redov
A PSD Based HC11 Microcontroller Development Board: Building on Past Experience
1.Abstract The success ,of the ,educational ,process ,of teaching
Optimizacija integriranih vezij z algoritmom simuliranega ohlajanja
Computing the steady-state response of nonlinear circuits by means of the ǫ-algorithm
The paper presents the problem of computing the steady-state response of electronic circuits. The... more The paper presents the problem of computing the steady-state response of electronic circuits. The direct approach to obtaining the steady-state response (transient analysis) necessitates a considerable amount of time. The process of obtaining the steady-state response through transient analysis can be accelerated by using extrapolation methods. The ǫ-algorithm is the most appropriate extrapolation algorithm for implementation in the SPICE OPUS
Optimizacija elektronskih vezij z vzporednim omejenim simpleksnim postopkom
The analogue circuit simulator SPICE was originally developed at the University of California at ... more The analogue circuit simulator SPICE was originally developed at the University of California at Berkeley. It was has been constantly upgraded and maintained at Berkeley from 1972 to 1992, when the last official release 3f4 was published. The UNIX based source code is still available as freeware at ftp://ic.berkeley.edu/pub/Spice3/. Although the research at Berkeley has stopped, many commercial companies continue
Probably the largest obstacle to overcome when optimisation is applied to real-world circuits is ... more Probably the largest obstacle to overcome when optimisation is applied to real-world circuits is the long time it takes to complete an optimisation run. The most intuitive solution is the use of parallel algorithms. One of the algorithms that have given good results in conjunction with the SPICE circuit simulator is the constrained simplex algorithm. The research in this paper
A non-virtual distance education course in software engineering
Information Technology Based Higher Education and Training, 2000
We have developed a training board based on the popular M68HC11A1 microcontroller. The described ... more We have developed a training board based on the popular M68HC11A1 microcontroller. The described system is robust, inexpensive and nothing particularly innovative. The point of difference compared to other systems is our software: the Integrated Development Tools (IDT) running on the PC platform (Windows 95/98/NT). In summary, our training system works without expensive EPROM and processor emulators, yet providing the
In the paper four approaches of upgrading analog circuits analysis tools (SPICE was used) with op... more In the paper four approaches of upgrading analog circuits analysis tools (SPICE was used) with optimisation loops are compared. In the first approach the optimisation algorithm is coded in Mathematica, which calls SPICE for every circuit analysis. In the second approach the algorithm is coded in Nutmeg. (Nutmeg is an interpreter designed as a user interface for SPICE, but it
The field of optimisation is still not appropriately covered in modern computer programs for circ... more The field of optimisation is still not appropriately covered in modern computer programs for circuit analysis as SPICE. It was originally developed at the University of California at Berkeley. The last official release of SPICE 3f4 was published in 1992. It has numerous bugs, mainly memory leaks. In order to implement optimisation methods most bugs were tracked down and fixed.
A modified static CMOS inverter with two inputs and two outputs is proposed to reduce short-circu... more A modified static CMOS inverter with two inputs and two outputs is proposed to reduce short-circuit current in order to increment delay and reduce power overhead where slow operation is required. The circuit is based on bidirectional delay element connected in series with the PMOS and NMOS switching transistors. It provides differences in the dynamic response so that the directpath current in the next stage is reduced. The switching transistors are never ON at the same time. Characteristics of various delay element implementations are presented and verified by circuit simulations. Global optimization procedure is used to obtain the most power-efficient transistor sizing. The performance of the modified CMOS inverter chain is compared to standard implementation for various delays. The energy (charge) per delay is reduced up to 40%. The use of the proposed delay element is demonstrated by implementing a low-power delay line and a leading-edge detector cell.
A hands-on approach to teaching the basic OSI reference model
A new local area network (LAN) concept designed for educational purposes is proposed based upon t... more A new local area network (LAN) concept designed for educational purposes is proposed based upon the standard RS232 protocol. The concept enables students to gain hands-on experience of all seven open system interconnection (OSI) layers. The proposed approach to teaching computer networks has proved very popular with students. At the same time students' comprehension of basic OSI concepts has improved
This paper presents a new optimization algorithm for automatic sizing of integrated circuits (IC)... more This paper presents a new optimization algorithm for automatic sizing of integrated circuits (IC) in SPICE. We refer to the new method as DESA. It is a hybrid between two very popular oprimization methods. The first one is differential evolution (DE) which is a robust population based optimization method and has received a lot of attention in the recent years.
A new Optimization Algorithm for the Design of Integrated Circuits
EUROCON 2007 - The International Conference on "Computer as a Tool", 2007
ABSTRACT This paper presents a new hybrid algorithm for global optimization of integrated circuit... more ABSTRACT This paper presents a new hybrid algorithm for global optimization of integrated circuits. The algorithm exploits the efficient search mechanism of differential evolution and good global search capabilities of simulated annealing, while avoiding their weaknesses. It is easy to implement and has only a few parameters. The performance of the algorithm is verified on seven real-world cases of integrated circuit design with promising results. The proposed algorithm was implemented in SPICE OPUS simulation and optimization tool and compared with a multistart version of the constrained simplex algorithm. It outperformed the latter in terms of the final solution quality and speed.
Mesh adaptive direct search with second directional derivative-based Hessian update
Computational Optimization and Applications, 2015
A hands-on approach to teaching the basic OSI reference model
International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education, 2000
A new local area network (LAN) concept designed for educational purposes is proposed based upon t... more A new local area network (LAN) concept designed for educational purposes is proposed based upon the standard RS232 protocol. The concept enables students to gain hands-on experience of all seven open system interconnection (OSI) layers. The proposed approach to teaching computer networks has proved very popular with students. At the same time students' comprehension of basic OSI concepts has improved
A direct search method for finding the worst performance measure in integrated circuit design
2009 European Conference on Circuit Theory and Design, 2009
We propose a direct search algorithm for solving the worst performance measure problem in integra... more We propose a direct search algorithm for solving the worst performance measure problem in integrated circuits. The algorithm is based on the Hooke-Jeeves algorithm. We confirm its reliability by comparing its results to the results of a Monte-Carlo analysis. In terms of speed the algorithm takes the equivalent of 3 to 9 finite difference gradient evaluations for finding a single worst performance measure value. Finally we use the algorithm in the process of robust design and confirm the obtained yield with Monte-Carlo analysis.
Towards Smaller Populations in Differential Evolution
A microcontroller laboratory for electrical engineering
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Papers by Tadej Tuma