Automated testing using circuit decomposition

A method is presented for testing large-scale analog and mixed-mode networks. Test equations are derived for a partitioned network from Kirchoff´s current law equations at the partition points. Voltages at the partition points are used to identify network parameters. The method is applicable in circuit modeling, fault diagnosis, testing and calibration. The conventional testing methods for dynamic nonlinear networks are based on the sensitivity approach, which uses incremental changes in voltages to estimate changes in network parameters. However, this conventional approach cannot handle large scale circuits because the sensitivity matrix is dense. This results in enormous requirements for memory space and computing time when the circuit size becomes large. The authors´ method overcomes these fundamental deficiencies of the sensitivity approach