ECE513 Circuit Simulation Algorithms

Contents: Formulation of equations of linear and nonlinear circuits. Numerical solution of linear systems and application in static analysis of linear circuits. Sparse matrix algorithms for the simulation of large-scale circuits. Numerical solution of nonlinear systems and application in static analysis of nonlinear circuits. Numerical solution of differential systems and application in transient analysis of linear and nonlinear circuits. Frequency analysis of linear and nonlinear circuits.
Special emphasis in placed on a full-semester project where students are assigned to develop a complete circuit simulation program like SPICE.

The course aims at offering the students the possibility to combine knowledge obtained from the basic courses of Circuit Analysis, Numerical Analysis, and Programming, into the development of a modern software tool for circuit simulation like SPICE.

With the successful completion of the course, the student will be in a position to:

• Formulate the system of linear or nonlinear equations for the simulation of a circuit described in a “netlist” file.
• Solve a system of linear or nonlinear equations by a series of direct or iterative numerical methods, and by the use of scientific computing libraries and sparse matrix algorithms.
• Simulate a circuit in the time domain by numerical solution methods for ordinary differential equations.
• Simulate a circuit in the frequency domain by solution of complex systems of equations or/and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT).
• Co-operate with his/her fellow students as part of a team for the development of industrial-level scientific software.