Guppy PRO Technical Manual
V4.1.2
24
Why use FireWire?
Digital cameras with on-board FireWire (IEEE1394a or IEEE1394b)
communications conforming to the IIDC standard (V1.3 or V1.31) have created
cost-effective and powerful solutions options being used for thousands of
different applications around the world. FireWire is currently the premier
robust digital interface for industrial applications for many reasons, including:
•
Guaranteed bandwidth features to ensure fail-safe communications
•
Interoperability with multiple different camera types and vendors
•
Diverse camera powering options, including single-cable solutions up to
45 W
•
Effective multiple-camera solutions
•
Large variety of FireWire accessories for industrial applications
•
Availability of repeaters and optical fiber cabling
•
Forward and backward compatibility blending IEEE1394a and IEEE1394b
•
Both real-time (isochronous) and demand-driven asynchronous data
transmission capabilities
FireWire in detail
Serial bus
FireWire is a very effective way to utilize a low-cost serial bus, through a
standardized communications protocol, that establishes packetized data
transfer between two or more devices. FireWire offers real time isochronous
bandwidth for image transfer with guaranteed low latency. It also offers
asynchronous data transfer for controlling camera parameters on the fly, such
as gain and shutter. As illustrated in the diagram below, these two modes can
co-exist by using priority time slots for video data transfer and the remaining
time slots for control data transfer.
Figure 2: IEEE1394a data transmission
