QSolve for Mathematica

QSolve is a Mathematica add-on package which uses an external program via MathLink to solve qualitative systems of equations.

Qualitative means that valid states for variables or values of parameters of a system of equations are only positive [+], zero [0], or negative [-].

This can be used, for example, in the beginning of a design process of an analog circuit when the designer has to decide which circuit structure is suitable to satisfy the design specifications. At this step the general structure of the circuit can be analyzed qualitatively without preceding dimensioning.

The QSolve package does not support setting up systems of equations but it provides efficient algorithms for solving these systems. It even pays attention to structural equations (e.g. Kirchhof equations) by expanding these equations to avoid unnecessary loss of informations. Setting up equations for analog circuit design can be done via Analog Insydes.

Installation

• Download the QSolve archive. QSolve has been developed for Mathematica 3/4, Solaris 2.6 & Solaris 7, and gcc-2.95.2.
• Untar the archive with zcat QSolve-xxx.tar.gz | tar cvf - at the command line in the AddOns`Applications` directory of the Mathematica installation or your user specific directory. xxx is the version of QSolve.
• Go to QSolve/Source at the command line and compile and install the MathLink part of QSolve with make. If you are not working under Solaris type make SYS=systemid with systemid returned by $SystemID in a Mathematica session. You may modify the Makefile to enable optimization during compilation.
• Rebuild the Help Index by choosing Rebuild Help Index in the Help Menu for the Help Browser.

Using QSolve with Analog Insydes

Analog Insydes is a symbolic design system made by ITWM. Analog Insydes can be used to set-up the system of equations from a given netlist. The sections QSolve & Analog Insydes Release 1.0 and QSolve & Analog Insydes Release 2.0 show how Analog Insydes can work together with QSolve to analyze an analog circuit with qualitative techniques. QSolve comes with qualtitative models for diodes and transistors for setting up qualitative systems of equations with Analog Insydes.

Copyright © 1999-2001 by Manfred Thole

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

[ www.thole.org | Manfred Thole ]