An Improved ACO Algorithm for the Analog Circuits Design Optimization

Sizing analog circuits is a complicated and delicate process activity and time consuming task in the entire design, generally based on the experience of the designer. Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) had been recently proposed and successfully applied for finding the optimal performance of analog circuits and hence the transistors sizes for the integrated circuit design. However, this algorithm needs an intensive execution time to converge toward optimal solutions. To improve the speed and even the efficiency of the algorithm, the concept of backtracking search is combined with the ACO algorithm. The performances of the improved ACO algorithm, named BA-ACO, are highlighted through the optimal design of a two stage Operational Amplifier (Op-Amp) and an Operational Transconductance Amplifier (OTA). SPICE simulation results are given to show the validity of the proposed algorithm. Keywords— Metaheuristic; Ant Colony Optimization; Backtracking Search Technique; Analog Design; Op-Amp; OTA.

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