Introduction: A reference step-like pulse generator is described which has been developed at NBS. This generator can be used for accurately characterizing the step response of various kinds of trap ient recording equipment (oscilloscopes, waveform recorders, transient digitizers, etc.). Basic design principles are given as well as complete circuit diagrams and descriptions. An analysis of the output stage of the generator is presented together with the circuit models for developing a time-domain computer simulation program using extended- SCEPTRE. Preliminary specifications indicate that the NBS Reference Flat Pulse Generator provides a negative-going reference transition duration (90 to 10 percent) of 600 ps, *20 percent with baseline perturbations of less than *2 percent for less than 5 ns.

From preface: STARPAC documentation is being published as a series of Technical Notes. This Note is the first in the series. It gives an overview of the STARPAC library, defines conventions used in the documentation, provides an example using STARPAC subroutines, and presents general background material. This Note includes information which is essential for using the STARPAC library, and users should be familiar with its contents before attempting to use any STARPAC subroutine.

From preface: This Note documents 16 subroutines for nonlinear least squares regression. Twelve of these compute the least squares estimates, performing either weighted or unweighted analysis with either numerically approximated or user-supplied (analytic) derivatives. The other four are user-callable subroutines for two procedures used within the estimation code: the first selects optimum step sizes for approximating the partial derivatives of the model; and the second checks the validity of a user-supplied derivative subroutine.