Hierarchical symbolic analysis of large-scale systems using a Mason's signal flow graph model

The author presents an approach to the symbolic analysis of large-scale systems. The method depends on the partitioning of the system into smaller subsystems which are then symbolically analyzed individually and non-iteratively using Mason's signal flow graph models of these smaller subsystems. The resulting solutions which are reduced signal flow graphs (transfer functions) for the subsystems are then hierarchically combined to produce the final solution or solutions (transfer functions) for the whole system. The advantage of such an approach is the tremendous reduction in the number of symbolic terms compared to the conventional approaches that can only handle very small circuits. The result of the analysis is a series of equations that have an upward hierarchical dependency on each other.<
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