Floating-Point Multiplier with Concurrent Error Detection Capability by Partial Duplication

Abstract

A floating-point multiplier with concurrent error detection capability by partial duplication is proposed. It uses a truncated multiplier for checking of the significand (mantissa) multiplication instead of full duplication. The proposed multiplier can detect any erroneous output with error larger than one unit in the last place (1 ulp) of the significand, which may be overlooked by residue checking. Its circuit area is smaller than that of a fully duplicated one. Area overhead of a single-precision multiplier is about 78% and that of a double-precision one is about 65%.