Accuracy Analysis for Stochastic Circuits with D-Flip Flop Insertion
Kuncai Zhong1 and Weikang Qian1,2,a
1University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute
22MoE Key Lab of Artificial Intelligence Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
aqianwk@sjtu.edu.cn
ABSTRACT
One of the challenges stochastic computing (SC) faces is the high cost of stochastic number generators (SNG). A solution to it is inserting D flip-flops (DFFs) into the circuit. However, the accuracy of the stochastic circuits would be affected and it is crucial to capture it. In this work, we propose an efficient method to analyze the accuracy of stochastic circuits with DFFs inserted. Furthermore, given the importance of multiplication, we apply this method to analyze stochastic multiplier with DFFs inserted. Several interesting claims are obtained about the use of probability conversion circuits. For example, using weighted binary generator is more accurate than using comparator. The experimental results show the correctness of the proposed method and the claims. Furthermore, the proposed method is up to 560× faster than the simulation-based method.
