Any-time probabilistic switching model using Bayesian networks

Modeling and estimation of switching activities remain to be important problems in low-power design and fault analysis. A probabilistic Bayesian network based switching model can explicitly model all spatio-temporal dependency relationships in a combinational circuit, resulting in zero-error estimates. However, the space-time requirements of exact estimation schemes, based on this model, increase with circuit complexity. This paper explores a non-simulative, importance sampling based, probabilistic estimation strategy that scales well with circuit complexity. It has the any-time aspect of simulation and the input pattern independence of probabilistic models.