Given the stringent requirements of energy efficiency for Internet-of-Things edge devices, approximate multipliers have recently received growing attention, especially in error-resilient applications. The computation error and energy efficiency largely depend on how and where the approximation is introduced into a design. Thus, this article aims to provide a comprehensive review of the approximation techniques in multiplier designs ranging from algorithms and architectures to circuits. We have implemented representative approximate multiplier designs in each category to understand the impact of the design techniques on accuracy and efficiency. The designs can then be effectively deployed in high level applications, such as machine learning, to gain energy efficiency at the cost of slight accuracy loss.

翻译：鉴于互联网边缘装置对能源效率的严格要求,近似乘数最近受到越来越多的注意,特别是在有错应变的应用方面,计算错误和能源效率主要取决于在设计中采用近似值的方式和地点,因此,本条的目的是全面审查从算法和结构到电路等乘数设计中的近似技术,我们在每一类别中都采用了有代表性的近似乘数设计,以了解设计技术对准确性和效率的影响,然后这些设计可以有效地用于高层次的应用,例如机器学习,以便以轻微准确性损失的代价提高能源效率。