IEEE 1394 interface
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| Type | Serial | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Designer | Apple Inc. (1394a/b), IEEE P1394 Working Group | ||
| Designed | 1994 | ||
| Manufacturer | Various | ||
| Produced | 1994–present | ||
| Length | 4.5 meters maximum | ||
| Width | 1 | ||
| Hot pluggable | Yes | ||
| Daisy chain | Yes, up to 63 devices | ||
| External | Yes | ||
| Pins | 4, 6, 9 | ||
| Max. voltage | 30 V | ||
| Max. current | 1.5 A | ||
| Data signal | Yes | ||
| Bitrate | 400–3200 Mbit/s (50–400 MB/s) | ||
IEEE 1394 is an interface standard for a serial bus for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer. It was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Apple, which called it FireWire. The 1394 interface is also known by the brand i.LINK (Sony), and Lynx (Texas Instruments).
The copper cable it uses in its most common implementation can be up to 4.5 metres (15 ft) long. Power is also carried over this cable allowing devices with moderate power requirements to operate without a separate power supply. FireWire is also available in wireless, Cat 5, fiber optic, and coaxial versions.
The 1394 interface is comparable to USB though USB requires a master controller and has greater market share. IEEE 1394 replaced parallel SCSI in many applications, because of lower implementation costs and a simplified, more adaptable cabling system.
FireWire is Apple's name for the IEEE 1394 High Speed Serial Bus. It was initiated by Apple (in 1986) and developed by the IEEE P1394 Working Group, largely driven by contributions from Apple, although major contributions were also made by engineers from Texas Instruments, Sony, Digital Equipment Corporation, IBM, and INMOS/SGS Thomson (now STMicroelectronics).
IEEE 1394 is a serial bus architecture for high-speed data transfer. FireWire is a serial bus, meaning that information is transferred one bit at a time. Parallel buses utilize a number of different physical connections, and as such are usually more costly and typically heavier. IEEE 1394 fully supports both isochronous and asynchronous applications.
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