A radix-10 SRT divider based on alternative BCD codings

In this paper we present the algorithm and architecture a radix-10 floating-point divider based on an SRT non-restoring digit-by-digit algorithm. The algorithm uses conventional techniques developed to speed-up radix-2^k division such as signed-digit (SD) redundant quotient and digit selection by constant comparison using a carry-save estimate of the partial remainder. To optimize area and latency for decimal, we include novel features such as the use of alternative BCD codings to represent decimal operands, estimates by truncation at any binary position inside a decimal digit, a single customized fast carry propagate decimal adder for partial remainder computation, initial odd multiple generation and final normalization with rounding, and register placement to exploit advanced high fanin mux-latch circuits. The rough area-delay estimations performed show that the proposed divider has a similar latency but less hardware complexity (1.3 area ratio) than a recently published high performance digit-by-digit implementation.