Estimation of average switching activity in combinational logic circuits using symbolic simulation

We address the problem of estimating the average switching activity of combinational circuits under random input sequences. Switching activity is strongly affected by gate delays, and for this reason we use a variable delay model in estimating switching activity. Unlike most probabilistic methods that estimate switching activity, our method takes into account correlation caused at internal gates in the circuit due to reconvergence of input signals. This method assumes a particular delay model and further assumes that the primary inputs to the combinational circuit are uncorrelated. Both these assumptions can be relaxed at the cost of increased complexity. We describe extensions to handle transmission gates and inertial delays in this paper