DIGITAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SIGMOID FUNCTION FOR FPGA CIRCUITS

Abstract

In this paper, is proposed a method to implement in FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) circuits different approximation of the sigmoid function. Three previously published piecewise linear and one piecewise second-order approximation are analyzed from point of view of hardware resources utilization, induced errors caused by the approximation function and bits representation, power consumption and speed processing. The major benefit of the proposed method resides in the possibility to design neural networks by means of predefined block systems created in System Generator environment and the possibility to create a higher level design tools used to implement neural networks in logical circuits.