Design of MAC Unit in Artificial Neural Network

Architecture using Verilog HDL

L.Ranganath, D. Jay Kumar P.Siva Nagendra Reddy
P.G.Scholor Associate Professor Assistant Professor
Department of ECE Department of ECE Department of ECE
Kuppam Engineering College Kuppam Engineering College Kuppam Engineering College
Kuppam, Chittoor, A.P, India Kuppam, Chittoor, A.P, India Kuppam, Chittoor, A.P, India
meetranganath@gmail.com djayakumar303@gmail.com snreddy715@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: neurons in order to process the information. It uses a

An Artificial neural network (ANN) is parallel
Information processing structure consists of processing units.
The processing unit decides while the network is efficient or not.
So need to design an efficient processing unit and it also provide
better performance. The processing unit consists of MAC unit
(Multiplication and Accumulation) and Activation unit. In an
existing system, the processing MAC unit was designed by Booth
multiplier and carry look ahead adder. The existing processing
unit provides delay and consumes more area and power. To
overcome the drawbacks, designed a new processing unit, Vedic
multiplier with square root carry select adder (SQRT-CSLA).
The proposed design overcomes the drawbacks of the existing
system, and it’s also providing better performance of the entire
network. The Activation function unit was designed by sigmoid
neurons process. Entire processing unit was implemented and
verified by using Verilog HDL language.
Keywords: Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), MAC, Vedic
multiplier, SQRT-CSLA, Booth multiplier, Verilog HDL.
I. INTRODUCTION
A neural network is interconnected with processing
elements. The processing Element of the network is used to
store the interconnection strength and weights. Neural
networks are widely used for statistical analysis and data
modeling techniques. Some examples are image and speech
recognition, character recognition, financial prediction and
geological survey. In the neural network consider the input as
high dimensional and discrete or real valued function, the
same way output function is also discrete or real vector-valued
function.
An artificial neuron computational model is similar to
the natural neurons. Natural neuron receives signals through
synapses located on the membrane of the neurons. When the
signal is received are enough, the neuron is activated and
emits the signal though the axon. Likewise the signal sent to
another synapse and might activate other neurons. Modeling
the artificial neurons the input (synapses), multiplied by
weights, and then computed by mathematical function which
determines the activation of the neurons, and compute the
output of the artificial neurons. ANNs combine artificial
distributed representation of the information stored in the
network. Normally the neural network model takes an input
samples and produces output samples. The relationship
between the input and output function is determined by the
network.
Artificial neural network (ANN) is characterized by a
large number of simple processing neuron like processing
elements. Three different processing elements in the networks
are processing units and topology. Processing units are
generally MAC and activation unit. Based on the processing
unit the performance of the network is increased. Two
topologies are in the ANNs, one is feed forward networks and
another one is feedback or recurrent networks. Feed forward
network consists of single layer, multilayer perception and
radial basis function. Likewise the feedback networks consists
of competitive networks, Hopfield network and ART models.
ANN can be dividing into feed forward and feedback
network. In the feed forward network the input is directly feed
to processing unit, after the completion of process forward to
the output unit. The operation of the feed forward network
shows the output is purely depends on present input only, not
a previous one. But the feedback network is differ from feed
forward, the output of the feedback network is depends on past
output also. The output of the previous stage is taken as the
feedback and given to the input unit. Application of the feed
forward Networks is to develop nonlinear models that are used
for pattern recognition and classification.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section
II introduces some related work of the Neural Network and
processing unit. In section III is the Architecture of Artificial
Neural Networks. Section IV deals with processing unit of the
Neural Network. Simulation results are given in section V.
Section VI contains the performance evaluation and
comparison, and section VII deals with conclusion and future
scope.
II. RELATED WORKS
Saman Razavi and Bryan A. Tolson [1] have been
proposed the Feed forward neural network is one of the most
commonly used approximation function. This technique is
applied to a variety of problem from various fields. Feed
forward neural networks also known as multi layer perception,
with one hidden layer. A hidden layer is adequate to enable Outputs layer
neural networks to approximate any given function. A neural
network with more than one hidden layer may require fewer
hidden neurons to approximate the same function. The
reformulated neural network is equivalent to the common feed
forward neural network but has a less complex error. ReNN
approach can reduce the complexity of the network error. Hidden layer

Richard L. Welch et al. [2] are proposed a Multi-layer

perception (MLP) neural networks, Elman feedback neural
network, and simultaneous feedback neural network are the
three types of neural networks. Each network is trained and
tested using meteorological data. The MLP network is a
member of the feed forward network. In the network contains
three layers, the layers are input, hidden and output layers. The
input layer with linear activation function is fed the input
values, which are multiplied by an input weight matrix, and
the result is forward to hidden layer, and multiplied by output
weight matrix, and finally fed to the output layer.
Premananda B.S et al. [3] proposed an 8-bit multiplier
using a Vedic mathematics for generating the partial products.
The partial product addition in Vedic multiplier is obtained by
using carry skip adder. An 8-bit Vedic multiplication process
is realized using a 4-bit multiplier and ripple carry adder. Any
multiplication process speed is the main constraint, increase
the speed can be achieved by reducing the number of steps in
the computation process. Speed of the multiplier determines
the efficiency of the system. So multiplier is important in the
processing unit of the MAC.
Partial product addition is one of the important
processes in the multiplication, so need an efficient adder in
the multiplier to achieve accuracy. Damarla Paradhasaradhi
and K. Anusudha [4] have been proposed the square root carry
select adder (SQRT CSLA) is one of the fastest adders used in
many data processing processor to perform the arithmetic
functions. SQRT CSLA adder using Binary to Excess-1
converter (BEC) instead of using RCA. CSLA achieve lower
delay, but slightly increasing the area. Speed of the adder is
increased; automatically the performance of the MAC unit is
increased.
II. ARTIFICAL NEURAL NETWORKS (ANNS)
Input layer
Figure. 1. Simple Neural Network
B. FRAMEWORK FOR ANN MODEL
There are different ANN models but each model can
be specified by the following aspects:
• A set of processing units
• A state of activation for each unit
• An output for each unit
• Topology of the network
• An activation rule to update the activities of
each unit
• An external environment provides
information to the network
A learning rule to modify the structure of
connectivity by using information provided by the external
environment. After the processing of information, the output
function uses the activation value to calculate the output of the
unit. A simple artificial neuron tells how the process is done in
the processing MAC unit. MAC operation is important one to
get a accurate results from the neural networks.
Figure. 2. Shows the simple artificial neuron in the
artificial neural network. It contains multiplication and
accumulation unit. Each input are multiplied with weights
individually, output from the multiplier is added by using
addition unit. Added output is forward to activation unit, based
on the threshold it produced the output 0 or 1.
Weights

A. NEURAL NETWORK ARCHITECTURE Threshold

An Artificial Neural Network is a parallel
information processing consists of processing units. The
neural network was changed to Artificial Neural Networks,
because it’s not dealing with biological neural networks. 0 or 1
ANN was deals with general computing architecture known as Input
Multiple Instruction Multiple Data (MIMD) parallel s

processing architecture.
Figure 1. Shows the architecture of simple neural
network, its contain three layers, input, hidden and output
layer. Input data is feed forward to the output via the hidden
layer. In-between the input and output, processing is Figure. 2. Simple Artificial Neuron
performed by the help of processing unit.
 III. PROCESSING UNIT (MAC)
Multiplication and Accumulation (MAC) is one of
the processing units in the neural network. Based on the
performance of the MAC only the accuracy of the network is
obtained. MAC operation was performed, using the Vedic
multiplier with SQRT-CSLA adder.
the output in that neuron. Binary threshold neuron, Sigmoid
neuron, Rectified linear neuron are the different activation
function used in the neural network. Output functions are
varied by the activation function.

a. Vedic multiplier

Multiplication is one of the important arithmetic

operation in signal processing applications. Signal processing
involves multiplication, speed and accuracy is the main y is denotes the output function,
constraint in the multiplication process[10]. Speed can be
achieved by reducing the computation process in the z is denotes as impulse response function.
multiplication technique. Vedic multiplier is efficient
multiplication technique. The above equation describes the function of the
sigmoid neuron. Sigmoid neuron is used as the activation
Figure. 3. Shows the architecture of 8-bit Vedic function of the neural network. The above function is efficient
multiplier. It was designed by four 4 x 4 Vedic multiplier, compared to other activation functions.
each multiplier perform the operation separately[11]. Partial
products are added by 8-bit SQRT-CSLA; finally get a 16-bit
multiplication output.

The efficient Vedic multiplication technique is used. The

8-bit Vedic multiplier is designed by using four 4x4 Vedic
multiplier and square root carry select adder (SQRT-
CSLA)[11]. The 8-bit input sequence is divided into two 4-bit
numbers. Input to the 4-bit multiplier are a[7:4] & b[7:4],
a[3:0] & b[7:4], a[7:4] & b[3:0], a[3:0] & b[3:0]. Intermediate
partial products output are added using the three modified
adder, named as SQRT-CSLA.

b. SQRT-CSLA Adder

Carry propagation delay and low complexity are

recognized as high potential in every addition circuit[10]. To
achieve an efficient output, the proposed SQRT-CSLA
structure has designed. SQRT-CSLA adder circuit is classified
into two types based on selecting the carry inputs. a) Dual
RCA based SQRT CSLA; b) BEC based SQRT CSLA.
In the dual RCA (Ripple Carry Adder) based SQRT
CSLA circuit, each group has dual RCA pair for providing
carry select signals. RCA circuit would be more
disadvantageous due to the increasing propagation delay. To
overcome the problem, Binary to Excess 1 converter circuit
has been suggested in the SQRT-CSLA adder.

Figure. 4. shows the Architecture of BEC Based

SQRT CSLA, it contain BEC, RCA and mux. Half adders, full
adders and multiplexers are used for providing partial product
addition results. BEC circuits are used to provide same RCA
functions, but have different architectures with less gate count.

c. Activation function unit

The Activation function of a single neuron in the

artificial neural network is determined as function of
b[7:4] a[7:4] b[3:0] a[7:4] b[7:4] a[3:0] b[3:0] a[3:0]

4 X 4 Vedic 4 X 4 Vedic 4 X 4 Vedic 4 X 4 Vedic

multiplier multiplier multiplier multiplier

[7:0] [7:0] [7:0]

8-bit SQRT-CSLA adder

0000
Ca1 [7:0]

8-bit SQRT-CSLA adder

0000

Ca2
8-bit SQRT-CSLA adder
[7:4]
[3:0]

Ca3

P[15:8] P[7:4] P[3:0]

Figure. 3. Block Diagram of 8 x 8 Vedic Multiplier

A[15:11] B[15:11] A[10:7] B[10:7] A[6:4] B[6:4] A[3:2] B[3:2] A[1:0] B[1:0]
4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2
5 5

5-bit 0 4-bit 0 3-bit 0 2-bit 0 2-bit 0

RCA RCA RCA RCA RCA

6-bit 5-bit 4-bit 3-bit

BEC BEC BEC BEC

2 10 2 8 2 6 2 4

Mux 12:6 Mux 10:5 Mux 8:4 Mux 6:3

5 4 3 2 2

Cout Sum[15:11] Sum[10:7] Sum[6:4] Sum[3:2] Sum[1:0]

Figure. 4. Architecture of BEC based SQRT CSLA

 1

0.5

0 0

Figure 5: Sigmoid Neuron

V. SIMULATION RESULTS
Simulation was done by using the ModelSim XE III 6.3c simulator. Parameters like area delay and power can be
analyzed by using Xilinx ISE 10.1 simulator. Output of the Vedic multiplier is same as other multiplier, compared to the other
multiplier speed and accuracy of the Vedic multiplier is higher. The results are shown in the figure 6 contains different
combination of inputs, based on the input it produced the output.

Figure. 6. Simulation Output

VI. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND COMPARISON

Table No.1 Comparison of Area and Delay between Existing and Proposed system

Parameters Existing Booth Multiplier Proposed Vedic Multiplier

LUT 764 717

Slices 402 397

Delay (ns) 19.114 19.1

Figure.7 shows the difference of Existing booth multiplier and Journal of Engineering Research and Applications,
proposed Vedic multiplier. vol. 3, Issue 6, Dec 2013.
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VII. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE ISSN: 2231-2803(IJCTT).
Artificial Neural Networks are used in many [11]. R.Naresh Naik , P.Siva Nagendra Reddy and K.
applications, to analyze the methodology. MAC unit is one of Madan Mohan “Design of Vedic Multiplier for
the processing units in the artificial neural network. MAC Digital Signal Processing Applications” in
decides the output function is efficient or not. So designed a International Journal of Engineering Trends and
new MAC unit with the help of Vedic multiplier with SQRT- Technology, volume 4 issue 7-2013 ISSN: 2231-
CSLA. It produced the accurate and efficient output, 5381(IJETT).
compared to the existing booth multiplier with carry look
ahead adder. Our proposed MAC increases the speed of the
neural network. The MAC operation is performed well, entire
network performance also increased.

In future the multiplier circuit is designed by using

Reversible logic gates. It consumes less power compared to
our ordinary logic gates. So this technique is applied to the
neural network, get a better results.

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