A spectral theoretic approach to fault analysis in linear sequential circuits

A stepwise fault analysis procedure for the class of digital circuits known as Linear Sequential Circuits (LSC) is presented where the LSC is defined over a finite field. The development of a spectral theory for this class of systems provides a mechanism for exploiting the LSC's memory. This, in general, allows fewer test inputs than would be required for fault analysis of a memoryless circuit of similar complexity.