New IIDC Specification Set from 1394TA’s Industrial and Instrumentation Working Group

Improves Bandwidth Efficiency, Adds Additional Support for Latest FireWire Digital Cameras

The 1394 Trade Association’s Industrial & Instrumentation Working Group has completed work updating its IIDC 1394-based Digital Camera Specification. The new standard (Version 1.32) adds several important features including more efficient use of bandwidth and new modes that simplify design implementations for the machine vision and surveillance camera markets.

“IIDC is critical for the vision market, and since every industrial 1394 camera now is compliant with IIDC, it’s easy for system integrators to pick the optimum camera for their needs. This new version provides significant improvements and enhances the benefits of a standardized protocol,” said James Snider, 1394 Trade Association Executive Director.

The TA will formally introduce the new specification at VISION 2008 at Neue Messe in Stuttgart, Germany, November 4-6.

The first improvement is look-up table support using a simple table access method that can provide multiple channels for use with color video pixel data. For example, a look-up table with three channels could be applied to RGB8 data. If the bit depth of a look-up table entry is not a multiple of 8 bits, it is padded so that an entry becomes a whole number of bytes.

Version 1.32 improves bandwidth efficiency by accommodating 12-bit per pixel transport mode, which coincides with the capabilities of almost all digital cameras. Transferring 12-bit data using a 16-bit mode has, until now, been necessary, but does not use bandwidth efficiently.

Also included is Little-endian mode.  Prior versions of the IIDC specification use Big-endian encoding, which accommodates the high byte first, for 16-bit per component pixel formats. IIDC V1.32 adds a mode where these formats are transferred in Little endian encoding (low byte first). This simplifies camera implementations for many image sensors and imaging architectures.

Another feature of V1.32 involves image buffer functionality.  Many cameras have internal frame buffers to store multiple images.  A method to control the storage and transmission of images from a frame buffer is included in IIDC V1.32, representing the first time an IIDC specification has included this function. This is useful for retransmitting images acquired with an external trigger or to store images for later transmission.

IIDC V1.32 also addresses several challenges that became apparent as designers implemented the previous version of the specification.

IIDC V2.0 Now in Progress

The Industrial and Instrumentation Working Group has begun work on IIDC V2.0, which represents a ground-up redesign of the specification. The new standard is intended to simplify the construction of 1394-based industrial cameras, and significantly reduce memory requirements. The new proposed architecture also makes it much easier for a PC to detect the individual features of a particular camera over the bus.

Work on IIDC V2.0 is a joint effort between the1394TA and the Japanese Industrial Imaging Association.  IIDC V2.0 is expected to be available by the end of 2009.