Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on CIRCUITS, Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, July 10-12, 2006 (pp125-131)
A Review of Chaotic circuits, Simulation and Implementation
Cherif Aissi1 and Demetrios Kazakos2
1
College of Engineering, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Lafayette, LA 70504, USA
2
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Idaho
Moscow, Idaho 83843-1023
Abstract: - Understanding how to design circuits that display a chaotic behavior is of great importance
both to students and to practicing engineers. The benefit is to learn not only how to avoid chaos, which can
be a nuisance in a circuit, but also to develop applications that actually exploit this phenomenon. In this
paper, we present two autonomous and two nonautonomous circuits that behave chaotically. Electronics
Workbench is used to simulate circuits and show the presence of chaos. Complete circuits implementation
and oscilloscope plots are all given.
Key-Words: -Chua’s circuit, chaos, attractor, bifurcation, oscillator.
1. Introduction
phenomena of chaos, Lonngren [1] describes an
interesting electronics experiment to illustrate the
For decades, the engineering undergraduate
existence of chaos. The described laboratory
education in the area of circuit and design has
experiment with the accompanying theory is a
been mainly focused in linear models. The
good start for the student to grasp and understand
reason is that linear system theory has been
chaos. As a continuation of this goal and to
thoroughly developed and mathematical tools are
enhance the student understanding of chaos,
available to analyze such systems. This
Hamill [2] presented a collection of ten chaotic
philosophy has led many scientists and
circuits simulated using PSpice. These circuits,
experimentalists to disregard many observed
some are quite simple, illustrate how chaos can
phenomena because linear system theory can not
be generated.
explain them. In the last decade, there is a strong
interest in exploring systems that display unusual
This paper can be viewed as a logical follow up
complicated waveforms, commonly known as
on the progress made to understand chaos. It is a
strange attractors. These attractors have been
continuation to strengthen the student
increasingly observed in several nonlinear
understanding not only on how chaos is
deterministic systems.
simulated but also how to implement it. It is
worthwhile to mention that some of the
Therefore, it is important for today's students to
presented circuits, such as the Colpitts oscillator,
be exposed to these complex chaos phenomena.
are taught to students in electronics courses. Yet,
From the educational aspect, students need to
there is no mention that chaotic behavior may
learn not only how to control and avoid chaos
occur. We have chosen to stay away from
but also how to design chaotic circuits and
circuits that require a degree of mathematical
develop applications, which explore these
sophistication beyond the undergraduate level.
phenomena. Realizing the educational value to
introduce undergraduate students to the
Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on CIRCUITS, Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, July 10-12, 2006 (pp125-131)
In this paper, several chaotic circuits are dv1 1
presented for the student and the practicing C1 = (v1 − v 2 ) − f (v1 )
dt R
engineer to study and experiment with. We have dv 2 1
selected to use Electronics Workbench (EW) to C2 = (v1 − v 2 ) + i3 (1)
simulate circuits since it provides an interface as dt R
di3
close as to the real implementation environment. L = − v2
In addition, complete circuits implementation dt
and oscilloscope graphical plots are all
presented. Where the nonlinear Chua's function, shown in
Fig. 1(b), is described by
Section II presents examples of autonomous
circuits. Section III is devoted to nonautonomous f (v R ) = m o v R +
1
2
{
(m1 − m o ) v R + B p − v R − B p }
circuits. It is our hope that this paper will raise
(2)
many questions in the mind of students and
practicing engineer. f(vR)
2. Examples of autonomous chaotic
circuits:
mo
Chua's circuit: The first example we present is
the Chua's circuit (a third-order autonomous, m1
dissipative electrical circuit). It has been
investigated thoroughly at the experimental,
vR
numerical and analytical levels [3-9]. This -Bp1 -Bp2 Bp2 Bp1
circuit, known for its rich repertoire of nonlinear
dynamical phenomena, has become a universal
paradigm for chaos. Fig. 1(a) shows the Chua's
circuit which includes two capacitors, a resistor, mo
an inductor and a nonlinear resistor NR.
Applying KCL and KVL, the Chua's circuit is
described by three differential equations:
Fig.1(b) Chua’s nonlinear function
The realization of the Chua’s circuit is shown in
+ +
Fig 1.(c). The constant mo , m1, and Bp can be
V2 V1
easily computed.
⎛ R R R 1 ⎞
i3 - - ⎜ m1 = − 2 − 5 , mo = − 2 + ,⎟
⎜ R1 R3 R4 R6 R1 R3 R4 ⎟
⎜ R3 R6 ⎟
⎜⎜ B p1 = E sat , B p2 = ⎟⎟
⎝ R2 + R3 R5 + R6 ⎠
Where, Esat is the saturation voltage of the
Fig 1. (a) The unfolded Chua’s circuit operational amplifier. The complete
implementation of the Chua's circuit is shown in
Fig. 1(c).
Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on CIRCUITS, Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, July 10-12, 2006 (pp125-131)
Fig 1.(c) The realization of the Chua’s circuit [1]
The results of Electronics Workbench simulation Fig.1(f). Top: Vc1(t). Spectrum of Vc1(t).
show the phase portrait of the probed signals in
fig. 1(d). Colpitts oscillator: The second example is the
Colpitts oscillator [10,11] shown in Fig. 2(a).
Fig. 1(d). Phase portrait Vc2 versus Vc1.
The Chua's circuit was implemented using the
TL082 operational amplifier. The double scroll is
shown in fig. 1(e) and the voltage vc1(t) as well
as its spectrum are shown in fig.1(f). The reader
is encouraged to experiment with this circuit by Fig. 2(a). Colpitts oscillator.
connecting a variable resistor in series with the
inductor L. It is described by a system of three state
equations:
dVCE
C1 = i L − iC
dt
dV BE V EE + V BE
C2 = − − i L − i B (3)
dt R EE
di
L L = VCC − VCE + V BE − i L R L
dt
The transistor is modeled as follows
Fig.1(e). double scroll Vc2 versusVc1 for
R=1.53KΩ
Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on CIRCUITS, Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, July 10-12, 2006 (pp125-131)
⎧ 0 if VBE ≤ VTH
⎪V − V
i B = ⎨ BE
VBE > VTH
TH
if
⎪⎩ R ON
iC = βF iB
Where, VTH is the threshold voltage (≈0.75V),
RON is the small signal on-resistance of the base-
emitter junction, and βF is the forward current
gain of the device. In most undergraduate
electronics books, this circuit is shown to
oscillate but yet it can be driven to chaos. Fig.
2(b) shows the chaotic phase portrait. By Fig.2(d). Top: VC(t). Bottom: spectrum of VC(t)
changing the value of resistance RL we obtain
different trajectories.
3. Examples of nonautonomous
chaotic circuits
RL-Diode circuit: The first example of
nonautonomous chaotic circuit is the driven RL-
diode circuit [12,13] shown in Fig 3(a).
Fig. 2(b). Phase portrait of VC versus VE
The Colpitts oscillator was implemented and its
phase portrait scroll is shown in Fig. 2(c). The
voltage VC(t) and its spectrum are shown in Fig.
2(d) Fig. 3(a). RL-Diode chaotic circuit
It consists of a series connection of an ac-voltage
source, a linear resistor, a linear inductor and a
diode which is the only nonlinear circuit element.
The state equations describing this circuit is:
di
Vin = Ri + L + VD
dt
⎛ D ⎞
V
i = I S ⎜ e nVT − 1⎟
⎝ ⎠
Where VD is the voltage across the diode, IS is
the diode saturation current, n is a constant
which has a value between 1 and 2 depending on
the material and the physical structure of the
Fig.2(c). Phase portrait of VC versus VE for diode, and VT is the thermal voltage. The i-v
REE=466Ω characteristic of a diode is shown in Fig. 3(b).
Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on CIRCUITS, Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, July 10-12, 2006 (pp125-131)
Fig.3(d) Plot of Vin versus VR for f = 130KHz,
Vin peak-peak=6.5V and R=26KΩ.
Fig. 3(b). I-V diode characteristic.
An important feature of this circuit is that the
current i (or the voltage across the resistor R) can
be chaotic although the input voltage Vin is
nonchaotic. The results of the Electronic
Workbench simulation, are shown in Fig. 3(c)
for R=1kΩ.
Fig.3(f). Top:VR(t). Bottom: spectrum of VR(t).
Nonautonomous Chua's family circuit: The
second example is a simple sinusoidal driven
circuit shown in Fig.4(a) [14].
Fig. 3(c). Phase portrait of Vin versus VR
The RL-diode was implemented and its phase
portrait is shown in fig. 3(d). The voltage across
the resistance R and its spectrum are shown in
fig. 3(e). The reader is encouraged to experiment
with different values of R to obtain different
phase portraits.
Fig. 4(a). Dissipative nautonomous chaotic
circuit
It consists of an external periodic source, a linear
resistor, an inductor, a capacitor and the
Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on CIRCUITS, Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, July 10-12, 2006 (pp125-131)
nonlinear Chua's function NR. By applying
Kirchoff's laws, the resultant state equations are:
dv1
C = iL − f ( v1 )
dt
diL
L = − RiL − v1 + a sin(ωt )
dt
Where the nonlinear Chua's function, shown
previously in Fig. 1(b), is described by equation
(2). In addition to the implementation of the
Chua's function, a small resistor, connected in
series with the external source, is added to the
circuit in order to probe the current iL. The Fig.4(d):Top: VC1(t). Bottom: spectrum of VC1(t)
results of Electronics Workbench simulation
show the phase portrait of the probed signal in
Fig.4(b). Conclusion
Introducing the phenomena of chaos to students
and practicing engineers is very important not
only to investigate its existence even in simple
nonlinear circuits but also to explore it and build
some sophisticated applications. The circuits
presented here are selected because of their
simplicity from the mathematical point of view.
Electronics Workbench simulation provides a
virtual electronic lab environment to experiment
Fig. 4(b). Phase portrait of the probed signals with chaos. This will enhance the learning
Vc1 versus Vr process by being able to make all circuit changes
before purchasing any component to implement
This circuit was implemented and the phase actual circuits. Complete circuits
portrait is shown in fig. 4(c). The voltage vC1(t) implementations are presented to show the
and its spectrum are shown in fig. 4(d). The existence of chaos behavior.
reader is encouraged to experiment with this
circuit by changing the amplitude of the external It is our hope that this paper will entice the
source as well as the frequency. reader to experiment with this nonlinear
phenomena. Currently we are investigating the
applications of chaos.
References
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Fig.4(c): VC1 versus Vr for R=740Ω, f = 15KHz February 1993.
and Vin-peak-peak=2V
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