Keithley 4456 Firewire Ready free download

File name 4456_Firewire_Ready.pdf

Firewire Ready for Instrument and Control Applications By Gary Sakmar Keithley Instruments, Inc. The 1394 Trade Association (1394TA) has published two new data communication protocols that facilitate the use of IEEE-1394 (Firewire) for measurement and control applications. The introduction of these protocols opens up new possibilities for system developers by providing efficient, high-speed communication between PC controllers and electronic instrumentation and control devices. There are two major advantages of connecting measurement and control devices using industry standard I/O, such as that defined by Firewire: 1. Cost -- Standard I/O connectors and cables are less expensive than those using proprietary designs, which usually are produced in lower volumes. 2. Ease of use -- You simply plug standard, familiar cables into connectors that already exist on the PC. In Firewire's case, there is no need open up the computer to install a host bus adapter and you do not have to deal with hardware or software configurations for such an adapter. Within the framework of the general Firewire specification, there is the opportunity for data communication rates up to 400MHz, with 1GHz planned for the near future. However, until now, system designers were in a quandary on how best to implement use of Firewire. What they needed was a lightweight protocol that would make it easy to implement these high-speed communications. The Industrial Instrument and Control Working Group of the1394TA, which consisted of members from Keithley Instruments, 3A International, Agilent and National Instruments, solved this problem by sponsoring development of two protocols that facilitate use of IEEE-1394 in measurement and control applications. Protocol 1394TA IICP-1.0 details the basic methodology for asynchronous communications to electronic instrumentation and control devices. Protocol 1394TA IICP488-1.0 describes use of the first protocol to communicate IEEE-488.1 and -488.2 messages and command/control sequences on a Firewire bus. This facilitates the use of GPIB (SCPI) commands with Firewire. (These protocols can be downloaded as PDF files from the 1394TA web site at www.1394TA.org/Download/Technology/Specifications/iicp1.0.pdf and www.1394TA.org/Download/Technology/Specifications/iicp4881.0.pdf. The 1394 serial bus interface is already becoming a standard offering on some PCs, and many more manufacturers plan on providing it to meet I/O needs for consumer electronics. Instrument and control system developers are now taking greater interest in Firewire, not only because of its bandwidth, but also because of the following advantages: