A Design Technique for Pedestal-Free Switching Circuits

The fundamental differences between mechanical and electronic switching circuits are discussed with special emphasis on the problem of pedestals. Based on the fundamental differences it is shown that Boolean algebra fails to express practical requirements of electronic switches. This paper takes a step in the direction of removing this limitation by augmenting the ON-OFF notation of Boolean algebra by a notation of inequalities to handle the problem of pedestal-free switching. The ideal electronic relay is defined and a diode network realization is synthesized. An electronic switch is synthesized to illustrate the design technique´s application. Photographs showing the performance of the circuits are given.