Searching groups and layouts in N-terminal based test method using heuristic PSO algorithm

A new method, using N-terminal network, for analog testing electronic circuits is presented. During test mode the circuit under test is connected to an active N-terminal network. The structure and values of elements of this network are selected to obtain best identification of faults. The proposed N-terminal based test (N-tBT) method consist of 4 stages. This paper is focused on the 2^nd stage of this method namely on searching groups and layouts. The heuristic method for searching groups and layouts problem using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm has been proposed.