Warning

SpinalHDL fixed-point support is only partially used/tested, if you find any bugs with it, or you think that some functionality is missing, please create a Github issue. Also, please do not use undocumented features in your code.

UFix/SFix¶

Description¶

The UFix and SFix types correspond to a vector of bits that can be used for fixed-point arithmetic.

Declaration¶

The syntax to declare a fixed-point number is as follows:

Unsigned Fixed-Point¶

Syntax	bit width	resolution	max	min
UFix(peak: ExpNumber, resolution: ExpNumber)	peak-resolution	2^resolution	2^peak-2^resolution	0
UFix(peak: ExpNumber, width: BitCount)	width	2^(peak-width)	2^peak-2^(peak-width)	0

Signed Fixed-Point¶

Syntax	bit width	resolution	max	min
SFix(peak: ExpNumber, resolution: ExpNumber)	peak-resolution+1	2^resolution	2^peak-2^resolution	-(2^peak)
SFix(peak: ExpNumber, width: BitCount)	width	2^(peak-width-1)	2^peak-2^(peak-width-1)	-(2^peak)

Format¶

The chosen format follows the usual way of defining fixed-point number format using Q notation. More information can be found on the Wikipedia page about the Q number format.

For example Q8.2 will mean a fixed-point number of 8+2 bits, where 8 bits are used for the natural part and 2 bits for the fractional part. If the fixed-point number is signed, one more bit is used for the sign.

The resolution is defined as being the smallest power of two that can be represented in this number.

Note

To make representing power-of-two numbers less error prone, there is a numeric type in spinal.core called ExpNumber, which is used for the fixed-point type constructors. A convenience wrapper exists for this type, in the form of the exp function (used in the code samples on this page).

Examples¶

// Unsigned Fixed-Point
val UQ_8_2 = UFix(peak = 8 exp, resolution = -2 exp) // bit width = 8 - (-2) = 10 bits
val UQ_8_2 = UFix(8 exp, -2 exp)

val UQ_8_2 = UFix(peak = 8 exp, width = 10 bits)
val UQ_8_2 = UFix(8 exp, 10 bits)

// Signed Fixed-Point
val Q_8_2 = SFix(peak = 8 exp, resolution = -2 exp) // bit width = 8 - (-2) + 1 = 11 bits
val Q_8_2 = SFix(8 exp, -2 exp)

val Q_8_2 = SFix(peak = 8 exp, width = 11 bits)
val Q_8_2 = SFix(8 exp, 11 bits)

Assignments¶

Valid Assignments¶

An assignment to a fixed-point value is valid when there is no bit loss. Any bit loss will result in an error.

If the source fixed-point value is too big, the .truncated function will allow you to resize the source number to match the destination size.

Example¶

val i16_m2 = SFix(16 exp, -2 exp)
val i16_0  = SFix(16 exp,  0 exp)
val i8_m2  = SFix( 8 exp, -2 exp)
val o16_m2 = SFix(16 exp, -2 exp)
val o16_m0 = SFix(16 exp,  0 exp)
val o14_m2 = SFix(14 exp, -2 exp)

o16_m2 := i16_m2            // OK
o16_m0 := i16_m2            // Not OK, Bit loss
o14_m2 := i16_m2            // Not OK, Bit loss
o16_m0 := i16_m2.truncated  // OK, as it is resized
o14_m2 := i16_m2.truncated  // OK, as it is resized

From a Scala constant¶

Scala BigInt or Double types can be used as constants when assigning to UFix or SFix signals.

Example¶

val i4_m2 = SFix(4 exp, -2 exp)
i4_m2 := 1.25    // Will load 5 in i4_m2.raw
i4_m2 := 4       // Will load 16 in i4_m2.raw

Raw value¶

The integer representation of the fixed-point number can be read or written by using the raw property.

Example¶

val UQ_8_2 = UFix(8 exp, 10 bits)
UQ_8_2.raw := 4        // Assign the value corresponding to 1.0
UQ_8_2.raw := U(17)    // Assign the value corresponding to 4.25

Operators¶

The following operators are available for the UFix type:

Arithmetic¶

Operator	Description	Returned resolution	Returned amplitude
x + y	Addition	Min(x.resolution, y.resolution)	Max(x.amplitude, y.amplitude)
x - y	Subtraction	Min(x.resolution, y.resolution)	Max(x.amplitude, y.amplitude)
x * y	Multiplication	x.resolution * y.resolution)	x.amplitude * y.amplitude
x >> y	Arithmetic shift right, y : Int	x.amplitude >> y	x.resolution >> y
x << y	Arithmetic shift left, y : Int	x.amplitude << y	x.resolution << y
x >>\| y	Arithmetic shift right, y : Int	x.amplitude >> y	x.resolution
x <<\| y	Arithmetic shift left, y : Int	x.amplitude << y	x.resolution

Comparison¶

Operator	Description	Return type
x === y	Equality	Bool
x =/= y	Inequality	Bool
x > y	Greater than	Bool
x >= y	Greater than or equal	Bool
x > y	Less than	Bool
x >= y	Less than or equal	Bool

Type cast¶

Operator	Description	Return
x.asBits	Binary cast to Bits	Bits(w(x) bits)
x.asUInt	Binary cast to UInt	UInt(w(x) bits)
x.asSInt	Binary cast to SInt	SInt(w(x) bits)
x.asBools	Cast into a array of Bool	Vec(Bool,width(x))
x.toUInt	Return the corresponding UInt (with truncation)	UInt
x.toSInt	Return the corresponding SInt (with truncation)	SInt
x.toUFix	Return the corresponding UFix	UFix
x.toSFix	Return the corresponding SFix	SFix

Misc¶

Name	Return	Description
x.maxValue	Return the maximum value storable	Double
x.minValue	Return the minimum value storable	Double
x.resolution	x.amplitude * y.amplitude	Double