What you can do with Kactus2
Package IPs for reuse and exchange
- Import your existing IPs as IP-XACT components
- Create new IP-XACT components and generate their HDL module headers
- Reuse IP-XACT files from any standard compatible vendor
- Reuse the IPs in your designs and connect them with wires and busses
Create HW designs with hierarchy
- Create multilevel hierarchies, where a design has multiple sub-designs
- Configure component instances in designs, including the sub-designs
- Use generator plugins to create HDL with wiring and parameterization
Integrate HW and SW
- Use memory designer to preview memory maps and address spaces in your hierarchy
- Package software to IP-XACT components and map them to hardware
- Generate makefiles that build executables with rules defined in IP-XACT components
What you cannot do with Kactus2
- Behavioral logic: Neither Kactus2 nor IP-XACT handles module implementations
- Synthesis or simulation: These require tools that are specificly created for the purpose