A programmable base MDLNS MAC with self-generated lookup table

Abstract

This paper presents an new architecture for a programmable second base multi-dimensional logarithmic number system (MDLNS) multiply accumulator cell (MAC) using DRAM to store the conversion lookup table (LUT). It uses a direct mapping from nonbinary exponents to binary format with a more than 50% reduction in DRAM size compared to a recently reported architecture. With a simple modification of the DRAM data loading structure, each MAC can build its own LUT specific to the nonbinary exponents of the corresponding MDLNS coefficient in a pipelined data flow. This results not only in a considerable reduction of DRAM size, but also in the elimination of adders normally required for computing non-binary exponents in a data filtering channel.