Inexact and approximate circuit design is a promising approach to improve performance and energy efficiency in technology-scaled and low-power digital systems. Such strategy is suitable for error tolerant applications involving perceptive or statistical outputs. This paper reviews two established techniques applicable to arithmetic units: circuit pruning and carry speculation. A critical comparative study is carried out considering several error metrics.
David Atienza Alonso, Alexandre Sébastien Julien Levisse, Miguel Peon Quiros, Ruben Braojos Lopez, Loris Gérard Duch