Parallelizable stable explicit numerical integration for efficient circuit simulation

ABSTRACT

This work exploits the recently developed telescopic projective numerical integration method for efficient parallel circuit simulation. Stable explicit numerical integration is achieved by adopting an explicit inner integrator (e.g. forward Euler) in a multi-level telescopic projective framework, thereby addressing the well-known stability limitation of many explicit numerical integration methods. In the presented approach, the effective time step of the entire multilevel integration is no longer limited by the smallest time constant of the circuit so as to safeguard stability. Rather, it is controlled solely by the accuracy requirement. This makes it possible to explore the natural parallelizability of such explicit integration method for parallel circuit simulation. We demonstrate the potential of the presented approach and its parallel implementation on multi-core machines with encouraging initial results.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  B. Hardware
  B.7 INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
      B.7.2 Design Aids
          Subjects: Simulation

General Terms:
Algorithms, Design, Performance

Keywords:
explicit numerical integration, parallel computing, transient simulation