FireWire SoC runs at 3.2 Gbits/s

DapTechnology (Nijmegen, the Netherlands; www.daptechnology.com) demonstrated an S3200 3.2-Gbit IEEE 1394b FireWire system-on-a-chip (SoC) in November at VISION 2009 in Stuttgart, Germany. The demonstration showed video data being transported from a Xilinx development board through a 10-m FireWire cable to a PCI Express board in a host computer.

The company is spearheading this development with support from Point Grey Research (Richmond, BC, Canada; www.ptgrey.com). The DapTechnology 3.2-Gbit 1394b PHY IP will be available on a Xilinx FPGA and comprises a 1394b standards-compliant PHY IP with throughput rates up to 3.2 Gbits/s—four times that of the currently available 1394b-2002 and Gigabit Ethernet standards.

The SoC suite includes the company’s 3.2-Gbit compliant 1394b PHY IP, FireLink Extended Link Layer Controller IP core, a 3.2-Gbit peripheral development board, a four-lane PCI Express host adapter, and a 3.2-Gbit 1394b FireSpy Analyzer. An S1600 1.6-Gbit version of the suite is expected by the end of 2Q10.