Research and Hardware Implementation of a Reduced-Latency Quadruple-Precision Floating-Point Arctangent Algorithm

In the field of digital signal processing, such as in navigation and radar, a significant number of high-precision arctangent function calculations are required. Lookup tables, polynomial approximation, and single/double-precision floating-point Coordinate Rotation Digital Computer (CORDIC) algorithms are insufficient to meet the demands of practical applications, where both high precision and low latency are essential. In this paper, based on the concept of trading area for speed, a four-step parallel branch iteration CORDIC algorithm is proposed. Using this improved algorithm, a 128-bit quad-precision floating-point arctangent function is designed, and the hardware circuit implementation of the arctangent algorithm is realized. The results demonstrate that the improved algorithm can achieve 128-bit floating-point arctangent calculations in just 32 cycles, with a maximum error not exceeding 2×10−34 rad. It possesses exceptionally high computational accuracy and efficiency. Furthermore, the hardware area of the arithmetic unit is approximately 0.6317 mm2, and the power consumption is about 40.6483 mW under the TSMC 65 nm process at a working frequency of 500 MHz. This design can be well suited for dedicated CORDIC processor chip applications. The research presented in this paper holds significant value for high-precision and rapid arctangent function calculations in radar, navigation, meteorology, and other fields.