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Approximate Circuits pp 175–203Cite as

Automated Search-Based Functional Approximation for Digital Circuits

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Abstract

The problem of developing an approximate implementation of a given combinational circuit can be formulated as a multi-objective design problem and solved by means of a search algorithm. This approach usually provides many solutions showing high-quality tradeoffs between key design objectives; however, it is very computationally expensive. This chapter presents a general-purpose method based on genetic programming for an automated functional approximation of combinational circuits at the gate and register-transfer levels. It surveys relevant error metrics and circuit parameters that are typically optimized by genetic programming. A special attention is given to the techniques capable of providing formal guarantees in terms of error bounds and accelerating the search process. Case studies dealing with approximate implementations of arithmetic circuits and image operators are presented to highlight the quality of results obtained by the search-based functional approximation in completely different application domains.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Note that the SAT problem can be solved using a solver based on ROBDDs. By a SAT-based solver, we mean a variant of SAT algorithm typically based on DPLL backtracking operating at the level of CNF.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Czech science foundation project 16-17538S.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Information Technology, IT4Innovations Centre of Excellence, Brno, Czech Republic

    Lukas Sekanina, Zdenek Vasicek & Vojtech Mrazek

Authors
  1. Lukas Sekanina
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  2. Zdenek Vasicek
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  3. Vojtech Mrazek
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lukas Sekanina .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Brown University, Rhode Island, Providence, USA

    Sherief Reda

  2. Vienna University of Technology, Wien, Wien, Austria

    Muhammad Shafique

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Sekanina, L., Vasicek, Z., Mrazek, V. (2019). Automated Search-Based Functional Approximation for Digital Circuits. In: Reda, S., Shafique, M. (eds) Approximate Circuits. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99322-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99322-5_9

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