What is IEEE-1394?

Open standard IEEE-1394 is the high-speed serial bus of the future, and provides solutions for real-time servo control

What is IEEE-1394?

IEEE-1394 is an exciting, new technology on the immediate horizon with applications for industrial control. The computer and consumer electronics industries, backed by the major companies, are touting IEEE-1394 as the high-speed serial bus of the future.

• First conceived under the name FireWire by Apple Computer beginning in 1985, and later through an IEEE Working Group beginning in 1989, IEEE-1394 is poised for explosive growth because it combines outstanding performance with ease-of-use features and low cost.
• Fast …
  the silicon is already available for 200 and 400 megabits per second bus transfer rates. The next version of the 1394 specification defines operation for 1.6 and 3.2 gigabits per second operation. At a recent developer’s conference, Texas Instruments demonstrated 1.6 gigabits per second using standard copper cables.
• Rich feature set …
  User-friendly features in 1394 simplify operation with true Plug N Play functionality. Robust communications technology guarantees real-time network determinism
• Industry-standard cables …
  thin serial cables replace larger, more expensive interfaces … and are highly engineered for a combination of state-of-the-art performance, ease of use and low cost
• Installed cost objectives of $10-20…
  Designed to become a standard interface for inexpensive consumer products and PCs, low cost is achieved by extremely high volumes and broad support for 1394 hardware and software by a large number of vendors.

IEEE-1394 addresses the need for a cost-effective I/O bus that offers a high-bandwidth, digital-to-digital interface. 1394 has been adopted by consumer electronics companies (Sony, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Phillips) and computer companies (Texas Instruments, Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Sun, Apple Computer and many others).

Target markets for 1394 include digital televisions, VCRs, camcorders, cable set-top boxes and DVD-ROMs. It is also envisioned as a primary high-speed interface to the PC … connecting a wide variety of peripherals including printers, hard disks and more.

A recent market study released by Cahners In-Stat Group expects IEEE-1394 volume to breakout in Year 2000 with unit shipments of devices incorporating 1394 jumping to 150 million units. By 2002, the group anticipates that 1394 shipments could reach 500 million across all market segments.

Learn more about IEEE-1394 at the 1394 Trade Association website: http://www.1394ta.org.

Why IEEE-1394 for Servo Control?

The primary reason why 1394 is an ideal platform for servodrive innovation is that, in many ways, multimedia technical needs mirror servo system needs.

Multimedia has high bandwidth requirements to produce high quality video and/or audio. Digital data required for high quality video equals (30 frames / sec) (640 x 480 pixels per frame) (24-bit color / pixel) or 221 Mbps (megabits per second). Digital data for high quality audio equals (44,100 audio samples / sec) (16-bit audio samples) (2 audio channels for stereo) or 1.4 Mbps.

Multimedia requires guaranteed delivery of time-critical information for just-in-time delivery at regular intervals (or the video or audio will produce unacceptable results) plus the ability to synchronize data with command and control information. Plus, multimedia is generally migrating from an analog world to a fully digital environment because of its inherent benefits.

Multi-axis motion control utilizing networked servodrives also has high bandwidth requirements to maintain high servo update rates and precise control. During each loop update, a command must be sent to each networked servodrive, and feedback must be received.

Guaranteed network determinism is absolutely required, along with the ability to respond quickly to asynchronous events (i.e. --- high speed I/O, changes in software parameters, error and diagnostic messages, on-the-fly system monitoring requests).

These technical challenges, inherent in both multimedia and motion control applications, are precisely the challenges IEEE-1394 was created to conquer. An industry-wide development effort for a truly open-standard serial communications bus, spearheaded by the world’s largest companies, has resulted in IEEE-1394. It is a high-speed transport mechanism priced to fit into inexpensive consumer products such as digital cameras and camcorders, televisions, set-top boxes, VCRs and more.