Allied Vision Technologies has introduced a new IEEE 1394 bus driver for its FireWire cameras. The driver closes gaps in Microsoft's standard driver and enables much more efficient image data transfer for Windows Vista and XP (SP2/SP3).
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).
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.
