Java bytecode to hardware made easy with bluespec system verilog

Abstract

This paper presents a method for translation of Java bytecode sequences into synthesizable hardware, using the Bluespec SystemVerilog (BSV) environment. At the core of our approach lies a BSV description of a subset of Java bytecodes, that can be used to directly translate bytecode sequences into a BSV specification. The result is intended as an accelerator for existing Java processors (JOP, BlueJEP) or even standalone hardware. Preliminary evaluation shows our solution to produce hardware on par with established methods (area/performance), while supporting rare features (e.g. easy to automate, method calls and recursion).