Fast fixed-point divider based on Newton-Raphson method and piecewise polynomial approximation

Division is an operation extensively used in architectures for digital signal processing algorithms, which in portable devices require an implementation using fixed-point format. In this paper, a novel fixed-point divider is proposed. The divider architecture is based on a division algorithm that uses the reciprocal operation and a post-multiplication. In turn, reciprocal operation is based on the Newton-Raphson algorithm, where the seed is provided through piecewise polynomial approximation. Reciprocal operation is performed with only two clocks cycles and division operation requires only three clock cycles. A comparison between the proposed architecture and dividers based on coordinate rotation digital computer, shows that the proposed architecture achieves approximately 5-fold gain in execution time for applications in 50-100 MHz frequency range and higher signal-to-quantization-noise ratio.