This paper describes an automated process for designing electrical circuits in which "What You Want Is What You Get " ("WYWIWYG " – pronounced "wow-eee-wig"). The design process uses genetic programming to produce both the topology of the desired circuit and the sizing (numerical values) for all the components of a circuit. Genetic programming successfully evolves both the topology and the sizing for an asymmetric bandpass filter that was described as being difficult-to-design in a leading electrical engineering journal. This evolved circuit is another instance in which a genetically evolved solution to a non-trivial problem is competitive with human performance. 1.

: This paper describes an automated process for designing analog electrical circuits based on the principles of natural selection, sexual recombination, and developmental biology. The design process starts with the random creation of a large population of program trees composed of circuit-constructing functions. Each program tree specifies the steps by which a fully developed circuit is to be progressively developed from a common embryonic circuit appropriate for the type of circuit that the user wishes to design. Each fully developed circuit is translated into a netlist, simulated using a modified version of SPICE, and evaluated as to how well it satisfies the user's design requirements. The fitness measure is a user-written computer program that may incorporate any calculable characteristic or combination of characteristics of the circuit, including the circuit's behavior in the time domain, its behavior in the frequency domain, its power consumption, the number of components, cost o...

Abstract – It would be desirable if computers could solve problems without the need for a human to write the detailed programmatic steps. That is, it would be desirable to have a domain-independent automatic programming technique in which "What You Want Is What You Get " ("WYWIWYG " – pronounced "woweee-wig"). Genetic programming is such a technique. This paper surveys three recent examples of problems (from the fields of cellular automata and molecular biology) in which genetic programming evolved a computer program that produced results that were slightly better than human performance for the same problem. This paper then discusses the problem of electronic circuit synthesis in greater detail. It shows how genetic programming can evolve both the topology of a desired electrical circuit and the sizing (numerical values) for each component in a crossover (woofer and tweeter) filter. Genetic programming has also evolved the design for a lowpass filter, the design of an amplifier, and the design for an asymmetric bandpass filter that was described as being difficult-to-design in an article in a leading electrical engineering journal.

Automatic Synthesis of CMOS Digital/Analog Converters by Robert McKinstry Robinson Neff Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering -- Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences University of California at Berkeley Professor Paul R. Gray, Chair Synthesis of analog functional blocks in integrated circuits offers promise for improved designer productivity. By developing module generators for commonly used analog circuit elements, a synthesis methodology may be matched to a particular application, with approaches and algorithms determined by the particular needs of target circuit type. An analog circuit designer should be able to input design specifications and underlying technology information, and a synthesis methodology should determine circuit parameter values and dimensions, creating the required mask layouts. Slow, tedious design and redesign methods should be replaced by one in which the computer finds minimum cost designs which meet performance requirements. This work implements synthesis methods for a widely used analog block, the digital/analog converter (DAC).

this paper we present a family of Mixed-signal (mixed analog/digital) synthesis tools being developed at the University of Cincinnati. The VASE (VHDL-AMS Synthesis Environment) project involves the development of a vertically integrated synthesis environment centered around the emerging VHDL-AMS standard for specification of analog and mixed signal systems. The unique contributions of this research include the following:

In this paper, we present a technique for characterizing CMOS analog circuits based on directed intervals. The technique consists of an analog performance estimator and a characterization table generator. This characterization information may be efficiently used by the constraint transformation step in an analog synthesis system. We present a genetic algorithm based constraint transformation method, that exploits problem structure by using the circuit characterization information. We discuss the design of the genetic operators that capture the characteristics of the constraint transformation problem. The constraint transformation method that uses the characterization information was compared against one using a conventional genetic algorithm and the experimental results obtained demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. 1 Introduction Automatic synthesis tools that transform the description of a system at a higher-level of abstraction to a lower level typically consist...

In this paper, we present a hierarchical approach for constraint transformation. The important features of this are: a genetic algorithm (GA) based search engine that computes design parameter ranges, a hierarchically organized characterization mechanism based on the concept of directed intervals that assists the search engine and an analog performance estimator. Experiments were conducted comparing the hierarchical approach with a flat bottom-up one. The results obtained demonstrate the effectiveness of the former approach. Experimental results highlighting the impact of using the characterization information within the constraint transformation process are also presented. 1. Introduction and Motivation Crucial to a top--down mixed--signal design process [12] is a mechanism to propagate the specifications and constraints on the design elements used at one level to those at the next level. This task of transforming the system-level specifications onto component level constraints is c...

In this paper, we present a constraint transformation and topology selection methodology that explores the system level parameter space to compute acceptable regions in the component parameter space. The search process of an underlying circuit synthesis tool could be confined to these regions of valid solutions. Experimental results showing the impact of parameter space exploration at a higher level on analog circuit synthesis are presented, demonstrating the effectiveness of this technique. 1 Introduction Crucial to a top-down analog design process [10] is an interfacing mechanism to communicate the specifications and constraints on the design elements used at one level with those at the next level. The task of transforming the high-level specifications onto module parameters is called Constraint Transformation [3]. Efficient automation of this task is one of the the most important steps in automating the design of analog and mixed analog-digital systems. There are two important asp...

this paper we present a family of Mixed-signal (mixed analog/digital) synthesis tools being developed at the University of Cincinnati. The VASE (VHDL-AMS Synthesis Environment) project involves the development of a vertically integrated synthesis environment centered around the emerging VHDL-AMS standard for specification of analog and mixed signal systems. The unique contributions of this research include the following:

Abstract: This paper describes an automated process for designing analog electrical circuits based on the principles of natural selection, sexual recombination, and developmental biology. The design process starts with the random creation of a large population of program trees composed of circuit-constructing functions. Each program tree specifies the steps by which a fully developed circuit is to be progressively developed from a common embryonic circuit appropriate for the type of circuit that the user wishes to design. Each fully developed circuit is translated into a netlist, simulated using a modified version of SPICE, and evaluated as to how well it satisfies the user's design requirements. The fitness measure is a user-written computer program that may incorporate any calculable characteristic or combination of characteristics of the circuit, including the circuit's behavior in the time domain, its behavior in the frequency domain, its power consumption, the number of components, cost of components, or surface area occupied by its components. The population of program trees is genetically bred over a series of many generations using genetic programming. Genetic programming is driven by a fitness measure and employs genetic operations such as Darwinian reproduction,