Automatic Test Pattern Generation using Grover’s Algorithm

Abstract

Quantum computing is an exciting new field in the intersection of computer science, physics and mathematics. It refines the central concepts from Quantum mechanics into its least difficult structures, peeling away the complications from the physical world. Any combinational circuit that has only one stuck at fault can be tested by applying a set of inputs that drive the circuit to verify the output response. The outputs of that circuit will be different from the one desired if the faults exist. This project describes a method of generating test patterns using the Boolean satisfaction method. First, the Boolean formula is constructed to express the Boolean difference between a fault-free circuit and a faulty circuit. Second, the Boolean satisfaction algorithm is applied to the formula in the previous step. The Grover algorithm is used to solve the Boolean satisfaction problem. The Boolean Satisfiability problem for Automatic Test Pattern Generation(ATPG) is implemented on IBM Quantum Experience. The Python program initially generates the boolean expression from the file and converts it into Conjunctive Normal Form(CNF) which is passed on to Grover Oracle and runs on IBM simulator and produces excellent results on combinational circuits for test pattern generation with a quadratic speedup. Grover’s Algorithm on this problem has a run time of O(√N).