Programmed Logic Array Optimization

This paper presents an account of algorithms, and the execution of their programs, applied to large practical problems, for array logics, programmed logic arrays (PLA's), in particular for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology for the Venus Probe and for certain nuclear propulsion studies. The problem of array logic optimization—covering switching functions—is classical. The use of array logic as a solution to an acute problem of LSI fabrication has led to a resurgence of interest in this problem. A new formulation of the multiple output problem which leads to algorithmic/computational as well as conceptual simplifications is given. Previous methods of handling multiple output problems involved encoding the outputs as inputs and solving as a many-input, single-output problem. The present method encodes these in cubes with input parts and output parts. The classical operators and the execution of algorithms are thus rendered more compact and more efficient.