New FireWire Bus Driver Package from Allied Vision Technologies
The new AVT 1394 Bus Driver Package provides greater speed and more stability for Microsoft Windows-based imaging applications.
Allied Vision Technologies, leading manufacturer of digital cameras for industrial imaging, provides a new IEEE 1394 bus driver for its FireWire cameras, effective immediately. The driver closes gaps in Microsoft's standard driver and enables much more efficient image data transfer for Windows Vista and XP (SP2/SP3).
Open Road for Pixels: No Speed Limit for 1394b
Windows' standard FireWire driver is fundamentally suited for the IEEE 1394a standard. Newer functions, especially higher data speed, that were introduced with the IEEE 1394b standard, have not been fully supported. For this reason, devices with a 1394b interface cannot take advantage of full 800 MBit/sec data transfer rates, for example. Adding to this deficit are stability issues that are unacceptable for industrial and professional applications with high reliability demands.
The new AVT 1394 bus driver eliminates the speed limits of the original Windows driver. As a result, AVT cameras with the IEEE 1394b interface, such as the Pike and Stingray, can transfer image data at the maximum data rate (S800), even when using Windows Vista and XP (SP2/SP3).
Full Compatibility for Easy Programming
The AVT 1394 driver package conforms to the Microsoft Windows OHCI 1394 bus driver standard. Thanks to this 100% compatibility, other FireWire devices connected to the PC - such as hard drives - can continue to operate with no difficulty, something generally not possible with proprietary bus drivers.
Ideally, the AVT bus driver is intended for use with the AVT Active FirePackage Software Development Kit, but it also supports FireWire camera drivers included in imaging software from suppliers such as Cognex or Matrox. Moreover, the AVT 1394 bus driver package is compatible with the CMU (Carnegie Mellon University) 1394 camera driver.
"With this new AVT 1394 bus driver package, system developers can take the best from the FireWire bus and achieve the maximum data rate possible for their AVT FireWire camera," explained Jens Hashagen, Software Product Manager at Allied Vision Technologies. The driver can be used with 32-Bit Windows operating systems Vista, XP and 2000 and will be available free of charge as a download on the AVT website. According to Hashagen, a driver for the 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Vista is in development.
