METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SOLVING AN OPTIMIZATION PROBLEM USING AN ANALOG CIRCUIT

摘要

An analog circuit design is described that solves Linear Programming (LP) or Quadratic Programming (QP) problems.

主权项

1. A method of solving an optimization problem with an analog circuit, the method comprising:
(a) providing an optimization lattice comprising:
(i) rows of common voltage conductors;(ii) columns of common voltage conductors; and(iii) a resistance Rij connected between row i and column j of the optimization lattice; (b) connecting one or more cost functions to corresponding cost function rows of the optimization lattice; (c) connecting zero or more equality constraints to the optimization lattice; (d) connecting zero or more inequality constraints to the optimization lattice; (e) providing voltage sources to each cost function, equality constraint, and inequality constraint; and (f) reading the voltages of the optimization lattice columns of common voltage conductors after the optimization lattice has reached steady state; (g) wherein the voltages of the optimization lattice columns of common voltage conductors form a solution vector to the optimization problem.