A quantitative measure of the passivity and activity of networks

It is shown that a rational basis exists for stating that one network is more passive or more active than another. In fact, a quantitative measure of passivity is developed that assigns to each network a single number that can be calculated in a relatively simple way. This measure is shown to have many of those properties that one would expect on physical grounds. It also allows one to study many fundamental design problems in a rational manner. For example, one now has a basis for designing the maximally lossy loading network that could support oscillations with a given active network.