The Trade Association will leverage the IEEE 1394 standard to provide a cost-effective network solution for vehicle functions and services which are not critical to safety. These include telematics, such as navigation and rescue, and multimedia, including high-speed, high-performance, audio and video delivery.

"The 1394 standard, with its industry-leading speed and bandwidth, is ideal for a full range of vehicle applications," explains James Snider, the chairman of the 1394 Trade Association. "It is non-proprietary and easily accessible to any company or consortium that wants to use it, which are critical to the success of any new technology. Through our Trade Association working groups, we continually enhance 1394 and enable its use in new and exciting audio, video, industrial, and computing applications. Like our other work groups, this new automotive group will work with other industry groups. In this case, we will work with organizations such as the IDB Forum, to leverage the standard and make recommendations to auto industry organizations for its adoptions."

The 1394 Trade Association, which will meet regularly, has scheduled a session in Kyoto, Japan, for February 23–25 to begin the process of defining requirements to support passenger compartment operations, as well as auto-grade twisted pair physical layer requirements, including connectors and cables for linking automotive aftermarket consumer electronics products. The Association will also work to define the physical layer requirements for automotive-grade plastic optical fiber for OEM-installed components.

The AWG reports that over time, it will make a series of recommendations to organizations, including the Automotive Multimedia Interface Collaboration (AMIC) and the IDB Forum, to organize adoption throughout the industry.

Over 170 worldwide consumer electronics, computer, and peripherals leaders make up the 1394 Trade Association.

Link for more info: www.1394ta.org