Abstract
The computing elements for nonlinear operations presented in this paper are a combination of analog and digital components which combine the advantages of both techniques: large bandwidth and continuous representation of variables provided by analog techniques with accuracy and stability provided by digital techniques. The basic principle underlying these elements is to approximate functions by an appropriate power series, leading to a segmentation technique in which break-point values are calculated at high accuracy by operational digital-to-analog converters, while an interpolating increment is generated by medium-precision analog components.
A whole family of high-precision multipliers, dividers, resolvers, and digitally settable function generators based on this principle will be described, as will the standard modules of which these computing elements are composed. Measured accuracies and bandwidths will be given. The new devices have good thermal stability.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.