A layered software architecture with uncertainty handling capabilities for circuit computer-aided design

In this paper we propose a layered software architecture for Circuit-CAD (CCAD) with uncertainties handling capabilities, based on the utilization of heterogeneous software agents. The need of such approach comes from the increasing requests for integration-cooperation features in modern CCAD applications, whose simulation tasks are asked to go far beyond the mere and rigid application of presumed general purpose numerical methods. Indeed, solving some hard problems, like Tolerance and Sensitivity Analysis (TSA) for strongly non linear circuits in presence of large parameters' uncertainties, benefits much more from a clever preliminary choice of the best problem-tuned numerical method rather than from a blind number crunching approach. The software architecture we propose in this paper is built by intermediate and low level agents: Dbots (Domain Software Robots), operating at decision level, and Wbots (Working Software Robots), operating at computation level. We define the nature of such agents and describe their de-coupled manner of interaction, which enables implementing dynamic adaptive resolution schemes for given CCAD tasks. Furthermore, we present an example of use of the proposed architecture utilizing Java to specify agents as active objects. Some applications of the new strategy to TSA circuits-related problems are presented