High-radix division and square-root with speculation

Abstract

The speed of high-radix digit-recurrence dividers and square-root units is mainly determined by the complexity of the result-digit selection. We present a scheme in which a simpler function speculates the result digit, and, when this speculation is incorrect, a rollback or a partial advance is performed. This results in operations with a shorter cycle time and a variable number of cycles. The scheme can be used in separate division and square-root units, or in a combined one. Several designs were realized and compared in terms of execution time and area. The fastest unit considered is a radix-512 divider with a partial advance of six bits.