2018 · 42 citations · 12 references
EngineeringComputer EngineeringComputer ScienceComputer ArchitectureField-programmable Gate ArraysReconfigurable ComputingApproximation AlgorithmsField-programmable Gate Array ArchitectureFpga ArchitectureHardware AccelerationLookup TablesApproximate ComputingArithmetic Circuit SynthesisArithmetic CircuitsArithmetic Logic Unit ArchitectureArithmetic Unit DesignLookup Table ArchitecturesMultiplier DesignMultipliers
The main focus of the existing approximate arithmetic circuits has been on ASIC-based designs. However, due to the architectural differences between ASICs and FPGAs, comparable performance gains cannot be achieved for FPGA-based systems by using the approximations defined, particularly for ASIC-based systems. This paper exploits the structure of the 6-input lookup tables and associated carry chains of modern FPGAs to define a methodology for designing approximate multipliers optimized for FPGA-based systems. Using our presented methodology, we present SMApproxLib, an open source library of approximate multipliers with different bit-widths, output accuracies and performance gains. Being the first open source library of FPGA-based approximate multipliers, SMAp-proxLib can serve as a benchmark for designing and comparing future FPGA-based approximate arithmetic circuits.
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