Exploring Approximate Memory for Energy-Efficient Computing

Approximate computing (AC) has emerged in response to the growing need for energy -efficient solutions. AC can be implemented either in hardware or software and involves introducing approximation at different stages like data generation, transmission, computation, and storage. One notable application is approximate memories, which offers energy savings and performance improvements at the expense of occasional errors in stored data. Specific applications can capitalize on this trade-off by managing errors that don't impact critical data. This study details diverse techniques for approximate memory, provides a synopsis of recent relevant research, outlines key themes and challenges related to memory approximation, and concludes by sug-gesting potential avenues for future research in advancing approximate memory technology.