Precise Rank-Ordering of All Paths Through an Interconnection Network

A method for precisely ranking all the input-to-output transmission paths in an interconnection network is given. It is based upon the superposition principle along with a novel technique for decomposing the network into simpler networks, each having exactly one input-to-output path. The output voltages of the latter networks sum to that of the original network and determine the ranks. The procedure can be used for both dc and ac steady-state regimes. It can also ascertain whether an intended transmission path in a circuit design truly dominates all other paths.