Analysis and Design of an Analog Sorting Network

An analog sorting neural network is presented. First, existing order representations are discussed and a generalized order representation is introduced. The sorting problem is then formulated as the assignment problem. Based on the assignment problem formulation, the neural network architecture is described. Design principles and an op-amp based circuit realization of the analog neural network are delineated. Three illustrative examples are also discussed to demonstrate the capability and performance of the analog neural network. The proposed analog neural network is shown to be capable of monotonic and bitonic sorting and suitable for hardware implementation. © 1995 IEEE