1394 Developer's Conference Wrap-up

The Second Annual 1394 Developer's conference held at the Fairmont Hotel, San Jose from June 29-July 1, 1998 was a great success. More than twice the number of companies were demonstrating their 1394 offerings on the exhibit floor compared to the previous year. TI was the premier sponsor for this event along with Intel. TI 1394 leadership very evident, not only in the non-TI presentations and demos using TI-1394 silicon, but also our p1394.b R&D demonstration. TI demonstrated hot pluggable, 1.6Gbps data transmission over the standard 6-pin 1394 connector. In addition to this, TI demonstrated Net Meeting™ with Windows 98™ and TI's 1394 solutions tailored for a Set Top Box application.

The mindset of Intel and other leading PC, workstation and peripheral manufacturers was that adoption of 1394 is inevitable. Mark Kristen, Industry Analyst of IN-Stat estimated 450 million units shipping with 1394 by the year 2002. Microsoft's key note included a demo of Windows 98 running on SONY's new 3lb VAIO 505GX with 1394 capability provided by TI's 1394 silicon. Eight engineers from TI made presentations on the engineering and marketing tracks covering a wide range of topics on 1394. These included:

Monday, June 29:

• Welcome James Snider, Texas Instruments, 1998 Chair, 1394 Trade Association

• Marketing 101: James Snider
  
  View the presentation: mktg_101.pdf - 1,003k

• PHY Design Issues for Optimal PCB Layout :Ron Raybarman - TI 1394 Applications Engineer
  
  Abstract:Designers could have experienced problems getting their Physical Layer devices (PHY) to function as specified. The signal might be too low, or too jittery, causing glitches. Many times the problem lies within the PWB layout of the PHY's. Given the relatively small power consumption of the chip and the complexity of the part which has both an analog and digital section, interference such as noise or skew tend to interfere with the result.

  This presentation will address frequently encountered problems by engineers and how to correct them. Some of the problems are general while others are unique. The unique problems are dependent on the different board layout and its application. This document will describe noise and other interferences, and it will also address the following

  • Transmission line effects from etches
  • Stubs that behave like antennae
  • Reduce unwanted capacitance
  • Reduce interference with crystal frequencies
  • What to do with unconnected port pins
  • Ideal placement of caps to reduce noise
  • Ground isolation on the connectors
  • EMI

  View the presentation: layout.pdf - 120k

• Galvanic Isolation :Burke Henehan - TI 1394 Applications Manager
  
  Abstract: This presentation will not tell everything about galvanic isolation of a 1394 node. The designer will also need to read the "Galvanic Isolation of the IEEE 1394 Serial Bus (SLLA011 dated in 1998) app note and Sections of 1394-1995 & P1394a that are referenced in the app note. The presentation will cover the most asked questions & newly learned information such as:
  When Might I Need Isolation?
  How Does Bus Holder Isolation Work?
  What Signals Do I Need to Initialize with bus holder isolation?
  Do I need a large Cap to Decouple GNDS?
  How Do I Check Isolation?

  View the presentation: isolate.pdf-401k

• Peripheral Paradise Using 1394 :Sandhya Seshadri - TI 1394 Peripheral Marketing Engineer

• Why 1394 in a STB :Steve Schnier - TI 1394 PC Marketing Engineer
  
  View the presentation: stb.pdf - 1,476k

Tuesday, June 30:

• Morning Keynote Harry Davoody, Vice President and Semiconductor Group Manager, Texas Instruments
  
  View the speech: speechgh.pdf - 21k

• Specifying 1394 Capabilities in PC '98 & '99 Personal Computers :Grant Ley - TI PCI Applications Engineer
  
  Abstract: With the recent announcements from Microsoft for native support of the 1394 bus class and 1394 OHCI miniport drivers in Windows98 and NT 5.0, 1998 will see a growth in the design opportunities for PC OEMs and IHVs. In order to provide the PC consumer with the optimal user experience it is important to support the guidelines and recommendations of the PC98 and PC99 Design guides when designing 1394 enabled host platforms.

  This presentation will address the requirements and recommended features for 1394 host platforms per the Microsoft and Intel PC98 and PC99 Design Guides. How OEMs and IHVs can meet the requirements and provide value to the user will be discussed.

  View the presentation: pc98.pdf - 223k

• Case Study TI Camera :Randy Lawson - TI 1394 Applications Engineer

  View the presentation: dcam.pdf - 137k

• Device Bay :Mu Afzal
  
  Abstract:This paper is an attempt to describe the system-on-chip architecture for remote Device Bay Controller. This architecture implements the latest version of the Device Bay Interface Specification Revision 0.85. The architecture discussed implements the controller as an integrated FireWire, USB, and microcontroller device. The USB protocol is the primary method of communication between the host computer and the Device Bay controller. The proposed architecture displays the flexibility with which the bay system can be used and expanded. The architecture discussion will also include the firmware and device driver issues in brief.

  View the presentation: dbc.pdf - 208k

• Barriers are Falling for 1394: James Snider
  
  View the presentation: barriers.pdf - 906k

Thanks to everyone who attended the conference and stopped by to meet us. See you next year!