The streaming Radix 2^2 architecture implements a low-latency architecture. It saves resources compared to a streaming Radix 2 implementation by factoring and grouping the FFT equation. The architecture has log₄(N) stages. Each stage contains two single-path delay feedback (SDF) butterflies with memory controllers. When you use vector input, each stage operates on fewer input samples, so some stages reduce to a simple butterfly, without SDF.

The first SDF stage is a regular butterfly. The second stage multiplies the outputs of the first stage by –j. To avoid a hardware multiplier, the block swaps the real and imaginary parts of the inputs, and again swaps the imaginary parts of the resulting outputs. Each stage rounds the result of the twiddle factor multiplication to the input word length. The twiddle factors have two integer bits, and the rest of the bits are used for fractional bits. The twiddle factors have the same bit width as the input data, WL. The twiddle factors have two integer bits, and WL-2 fractional bits.

If you enable scaling, the algorithm divides the result of each butterfly stage by 2. Scaling at each stage avoids overflow, keeps the word length the same as the input, and results in an overall scale factor of 1/N. If scaling is disabled, the algorithm avoids overflow by increasing the word length by 1 bit at each stage. The diagram shows the butterflies and internal word lengths of each stage, not including the memory.

The burst Radix 2 architecture implements the FFT by using a single complex butterfly multiplier. The algorithm cannot start until it has stored the entire input frame, and it cannot accept the next frame until computations are complete. The output ready port indicates when the algorithm is ready for new data. The diagram shows the burst architecture, with pipeline registers.

The algorithm processes input data only when the input valid port is 1. Output data is valid only when the output valid port is 1.

When the optional input reset port is 1, the algorithm stops the current calculation and clears all internal states. The algorithm begins new calculations when reset port is 0 and the input valid port starts a new frame.

The latency varies with the FFT length and input vector size. After you update the model, the block icon displays the latency. The displayed latency is the number of cycles between the first valid input and the first valid output, assuming the input is contiguous. To obtain this latency programmatically, see Automatic Delay Matching for the Latency of FFT HDL Optimized Block.

When using the burst architecture with a contiguous input, if your design waits for ready to output 0 before de-asserting the input valid, then one extra cycle of data arrives at the input. This data sample is the first sample of the next frame. The algorithm can save one sample while processing the current frame. Due to this one sample advance, the observed latency of the later frames (from input valid to output valid) is one cycle shorter than the reported latency. The latency is measured from the first cycle, when input valid is 1 to the first cycle when output valid is 1. The number of cycles between when ready port is 0 and the output valid port is 1 is always latency – FFTLength.

This resource and performance data is the synthesis result from the generated HDL targeted to a Xilinx^® Virtex^®-6 (XC6VLX75T-1FF484) FPGA. The examples in the tables have this configuration:

Performance of the synthesized HDL code varies with your target and synthesis options. For instance, reordering for a natural-order output uses more RAM than the default bit-reversed output, and real input uses less RAM than complex input.

For a scalar input Radix 2^2 configuration, the design achieves 326 MHz clock frequency. The latency is 1116 cycles. The design uses these resources.

When you vectorize the same Radix 2^2 implementation to process two 16-bit input samples in parallel, the design achieves 316 MHz clock frequency. The latency is 600 cycles. The design uses these resources.

The block supports scalar input data only when implementing burst Radix 2 architecture. The burst design achieves 309 MHz clock frequency. The latency is 5811 cycles. The design uses these resources.