A Novel Method of Solving Linear Programs with an Analog Circuit

TL;DR

This paper introduces an innovative analog circuit design that directly solves linear programming problems, enabling real-time optimization for control applications with demonstrated effectiveness through simulations and experiments.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel analog circuit approach for solving LP problems, including a proof of equivalence and application to Model Predictive Control.

Findings

Circuit voltages correspond to LP solutions

Effective real-time LP solving demonstrated

Applicable to Model Predictive Control

Abstract

We present the design of an analog circuit which solves linear programming (LP) problems. In particular, the steady-state circuit voltages are the components of the LP optimal solution. The paper shows how to construct the circuit and provides a proof of equivalence between the circuit and the LP problem. The proposed method is used to implement a LP-based Model Predictive Controller by using an analog circuit. Simulative and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.