Building embedded DSP applications in a Java modeling framework

In this paper we present a methodology for modeling embedded DSP applications based on the Java language. Models are written in a framework which allows detailed cycle accurate modeling in the area of focus with less detailed and more efficient statistical models for the rest. The modeling is based on a Java extension package that allows hardware modeling by providing classes and primitive calls, in the same way SystemC extends C. By adopting Java in hardware modeling great productivity gains can be brought to the hardware designer or computer architect, since it has simple object model and prevents us from the error prone pointers. As a modeling example, we evaluate the performance of an audio encoding application on top of a stack folding optimized Java processor.