Analog Circuit Specification Testing by Means of Walsh–Hadamard Transform and Multiple Regression Supported by Evolutionary Computations

This paper describes an approach for an analog electronic circuit specification quick verification that is based on a simple mathematical model determined during the before-test stage statistical analysis. Generally, the observed performance parameters (e.g., cutoff frequency, phase shift at the assumed frequency point) are calculated from the Walsh–Hadamard transform components of circuit under test step time response. The optimal estimating formulas for relationship between the tested specifications and the selected components of the spectra are defined in the system based on a linear multiple regression procedure supported by genetic programming. The evolutionary computations significantly improve the approximation effectiveness by selecting the most representative points of the sequences domain and by defining the optimal set of linearizing functions. Finally, at the test stage, only a simple step stimulus and time-effective calculations are required to the tested performance parameters (specifications) of analog circuit identification and it predisposes the approach to quick production testing procedure realization or to embedding it in the mixed-signal systems. The automated built-in self-testing procedure using this concept may be easily implemented to low-cost microcontroller equipped with AD converter used for the testing response samples acquiring.