The 1394 Trade Association -- of which Apple is a member -- has developed a new reference tutorial to assist engineers in evaluating the IEEE 1394 (FireWire) standard, understanding how it works, and maximizing FireWire performance in their application.

The tutorial provides a technical background for engineers unfamiliar with FireWire, enabling them to build a complete understanding of how the standard operates, and to evaluate FireWire’s benefits for their application. The 77-page document includes diagrams, descriptions and illustrations.

Dedicated sections discuss FireWire’s use in a wide range of systems and applications including robotics control; automated optical inspection; medical imaging; computer and storage; audio and professional audio; security and surveillance; communications systems; set-top boxes; digital camcorders; commercial aviation; military and automotive. The tutorial also describes the most popular products including Host Adapters (Host Controllers); PC motherboards; cables; repeaters; IIDC cameras; external hard disks; digital cameras, camcorders and others.

Dimitrios Staikos of Codemost, authored the reference tutorial, with contributions from veteran 1394 Trade Association members Eric Anderson of Apple, Don Harwood of PLX Technology, Les Baxter of Baxter Enterprises and Burke Henehan, Henehan Consulting. Member companies such as Point Grey Research and IOI Technology Corp. contributed the photos used to explain applications.

The new reference tutorial complements the 1394 Trade Association’s newly-issued Design Guide, which details the guidelines for implementing FireWire ports on high level complex devices such as personal computers, automobiles and on simple devices such consumer electronics products. You can download the new Reference Tutorial and also the Design Guide, at the 1394 Trade Association home page (http://www.1394ta.org).