Compiling process algebraic descriptions into reconfigurable logic

Reconfigurable computers based on field programmable gate array technology allow applications to be realized directly in digital logic. The inherent concurrency of hardware distinguishes such computers from microprocessor-based machines in which the concurrency of the underlying hardware is fixed and abstracted from the programmer by the software model. However, reconfigurable logic allows the potential to exploit "real" concurrency. We are therefore interested in knowing how to exploit this concurrency, how to model concurrent computations, and which languages allow us to control the hardware most effectively. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that behavioural descriptions expressed in a process algebraic language can be readily and intuitively compiled to reconfigurable logic and that this contributes to the goal of discovering appropriate high-level languages for run-time reconfiguration.