Efficient floating-point representation for balanced codes for FPGA devices

We propose a floating-point representation to deal efficiently with arithmetic operations in codes with a balanced number of additions and multiplications for FPGA devices. The variable shift operation is very slow in these devices. We propose a format that reduces the variable shifter penalty. It is based on a radix-64 representation such that the number of the possible shifts is considerably reduced. Thus, the execution time of the floating-point addition is highly optimized when it is performed in an FPGA device, which compensates for the multiplication penalty when a high radix is used, as experimental results have shown. Consequently, the main problem of previous specific high-radix FPGA designs (no speedup for codes with a balanced number of multiplications and additions) is overcome with our proposal. The inherent architecture supporting the new format works with greater bit precision than the corresponding single precision (SP) IEEE-754 standard.