Synthesis of multiport resistors with piecewise-linear characteristics: a mixed-signal architecture

Non-linear multiport resistors are the main ingredients in the synthesis of non-linear circuits. Recently, a particular PWL representation has been proposed as a generic design platform (IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst.-I 2002; 49:1138–1149). In this paper, we present a mixed-signal circuit architecture, based on standard modules, that allows the electronic integration of non-linear multiport resistors using the mentioned PWL structure. The proposed architecture is fully programmable so that the unit can implement any user-defined non-linearity. Moreover, it is modular: an increment in the number of input variables can be accommodated through the addition of an equal number of input modules.