Input–Output Characterization of the Dynamical Properties of Circuits with a Memelement

The paper proposes a novel input–output approach to characterize the dynamical properties of a class of circuits composed by a linear time-invariant two-terminal element coupled with one of the ideal memelements (memory elements) introduced by Prof. L. O. Chua, i.e. memristors, memcapacitors, and meminductors. The developed approach permits to readily determine the conditions under which the dynamics of any circuit of the class admits a first integral. It is also shown that the circuit dynamics can be obtained by collecting the dynamical behavior displayed by a canonical reduced-order input–output system subject to a constant input of any amplitude. Notably, the reduced-order system exactly describes the dynamics of a circuit forced by a constant generator and with a nonlinear memoryless element in place of the memelement. The relation between the proposed input–output approach and the available state space ones(e.g. Flux-Charge Analysis Method (FCAM)) is also addressed. The main result is that explicit expressions of the invariant manifolds can be directly obtained in the voltage–current state space. Finally, it is shown how the approach also applies to circuits which contain forcing generators. It is believed that the proposed input–output approach can be a useful alternative to state space methods for studying multistability and control issues.