Work with parameters¶
Circuit parameters are symbolic variables used in expressions in the netlist. They can be assigned a value using the SPICE ‘.PARAM’ directive in the netlist. These values may again be given in the form of expressions with symbolic variables. When SLiCAP is working in numeric simulation mode, parameter values will recursively be substituted in expressions.
Parameter definitions can be added, modified or deleted from within SLiCAP. The sections below show the way in which this should be done.
Get all circuit parameters¶
A list with all circuit parameters can be obtained as follows:
>>> from SLiCAP import *
>>> prj = initProject('My first RC network') # Initialize a SLiCAP project
>>> instr = instruction() # Create an instance of an instruction object
>>> instr.setCircuit('myFirstRCnetwork.cir') # Create a circuit from 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'
No errors found for circuit: 'My first RC network' from file: 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'.
>>> all_param_names = list(instr.circuit.parDefs.keys()) + instr.circuit.params
>>> print(all_param_names)
[f_c, C, R]
Get all parameter definitions¶
A dictionary with key-value pairs of all circuit parameter definitions can be obtained as follows:
>>> from SLiCAP import *
>>> prj = initProject('My first RC network') # Initialize a SLiCAP project
>>> instr = instruction() # Create an instance of an instruction object
>>> instr.setCircuit('myFirstRCnetwork.cir') # Create a circuit from 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'
No errors found for circuit: 'My first RC network' from file: 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'.
>>> all_par_defs = instr.circuit.parDefs
>>> print(all_par_defs)
{f_c: 1000.00000000000, C: 1/(2*pi*R*f_c), R: 1000.00000000000}
Assign a value to a parameter¶
The method SLiCAPinstruction.instruction.defPar(*args) sets the value of a parameter.
>>> from SLiCAP import *
>>> prj = initProject('My first RC network') # Initialize a SLiCAP project
>>> instr = instruction() # Create an instance of an instruction object
>>> instr.setCircuit('myFirstRCnetwork.cir') # Create a circuit from 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'
No errors found for circuit: 'My first RC network' from file: 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'.
>>> instr.defPar('R', 'tau/C') # Define the value of 'R'
>>> instr.defPar('C', '10n') # Define the value of 'C'
>>> instr.defPar('tau', '1u') # Define the value of 'tau'
>>> print(instr.circuit.parDefs)
{f_c: 1000.00000000000, C: 1.00000000000000e-8, tau: 1.00000000000000e-6, R: tau/C}
Get the value of a parameter¶
The method SLiCAPinstruction.instruction.getParValue(*args) returns the value of a parameter. If the simulation type (SLiCAPinstruction.instruction.simType) has been set to ‘symbolic’ it returns the symbolic definition of the parameter. If the simulation type has been set to ‘numeric’ it returns its value after recursive substitution of all parameter definitions:
>>> from SLiCAP import *
>>> prj = initProject('My first RC network') # Initialize a SLiCAP project
>>> instr = instruction() # Create an instance of an instruction object
>>> instr.setCircuit('myFirstRCnetwork.cir') # Create a circuit from 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'
No errors found for circuit: 'My first RC network' from file: 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'.
>>> instr.defPar('R', 'tau/C') # Define the value of 'R'
>>> instr.defPar('C', '10n') # Define the value of 'C'
>>> instr.defPar('tau', '1u') # Define the value of 'tau'
>>> instr.setSimType('symbolic')
>>> R_sym_value = instr.getParValue('R')
>>> print(R_sym_value)
tau/C
>>> instr.setSimType('numeric')
>>> R_num_value = instr.getParValue('R')
>>> print(R_num_value)
100.000000000000
Get the values of multiple parameters¶
If the argument of the method SLiCAPinstruction.instruction.getParValues(*args) is a list with parameter names, this method returns a dict with key-value pairs of those parameters. If the simulation type (SLiCAPinstruction.instruction.simType) has been set to ‘symbolic’ it returns the symbolic definitions. If the simulation type has been set to ‘numeric’ it returns the values after recursive substitution of all parameter definitions:
>>> from SLiCAP import *
>>> prj = initProject('My first RC network') # Initialize a SLiCAP project
>>> instr = instruction() # Create an instance of an instruction object
>>> instr.setCircuit('myFirstRCnetwork.cir') # Create a circuit from 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'
No errors found for circuit: 'My first RC network' from file: 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'.
>>> instr.defPar('R', 'tau/C') # Define the value of 'R'
>>> instr.defPar('C', '10n') # Define the value of 'C'
>>> instr.defPar('tau', '1u') # Define the value of 'tau'
>>> instr.setSimType('symbolic')
>>> R_C = getParValue(['R', 'C'])
>>> print(R_C)
{C: 1.00000000000000e-8, R: tau/C}
>>> instr.setSimType('numeric')
>>> R_C = instr.getParValue(['R', 'C'])
>>> print(R_C)
{C: 1.00000000000000e-8, R: 100.000000000000}
Assign values to multiple parameters¶
Multiple parameters can be assigned by passing a dictionary with key-value pairs of parameters as argument of the method SLiCAPinstruction.instruction.defPar(*args):
>>> from SLiCAP import *
>>> prj = initProject('My first RC network') # Initialize a SLiCAP project
>>> instr = instruction() # Create an instance of an instruction object
>>> instr.setCircuit('myFirstRCnetwork.cir') # Create a circuit from 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'
No errors found for circuit: 'My first RC network' from file: 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'.
>>> instr.defPars({'R': 'tau/C', 'C': '10n', 'tau': '1u'})
>>> instr.setSimType('numeric')
>>> print(instr.getParValue(['R', 'C']))
{C: 1.00000000000000e-8, R: 100.000000000000}
Delete a parameter definition¶
You can delete a parameter definition using the method SLiCAPinstruction.instruction.delPar(*args). This method does not delete the circuit parameter itself: it only clears its definition so that it can be used as a symbolic variable in numeric simulations.
>>> from SLiCAP import *
>>> prj = initProject('My first RC network') # Initialize a SLiCAP project
>>> instr = instruction() # Create an instance of an instruction object
>>> instr.setCircuit('myFirstRCnetwork.cir') # Create a circuit from 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'
No errors found for circuit: 'My first RC network' from file: 'myFirstRCnetwork.cir'.
>>> instr.defPar('R', 'tau/C') # Define the value of 'R'
>>> instr.defPar('C', '10n') # Define the value of 'C'
>>> instr.defPar('tau', '1u') # Define the value of 'tau'
>>> instr.delPar('f_c') # Delete the definition of 'f_c'
>>> print(instr.circuit.parDefs)
{C: 1.00000000000000e-8, tau: 1.00000000000000e-6, R: tau/C}