The makeup of the modern automobile, measured in terms of dollar value, is increasingly electronic in nature. The auto doesn't stand alone—the design of everything from home music systems to factory-control systems to automotive systems take advantage of Moore's Law advancements in semiconductors that usurp and improve upon formerly mechanical or electromechanical systems with data converters, processors, and software. The trend toward increased electronic content results in dozens or even hundreds of processing islands, or nodes, spread throughout the auto. Both the need to share data among the nodes and the efficiency of a shared-media interconnect, make some sort of automotive network a necessity in next-generation designs.

Current and future designs include the need to move video around the auto for safety, navigation, and entertainment applications. The 1394 Automotive standard offers a combination of topology, performance, cost, and data security for those next-generation designs.

The 1394 Automotive standard is derived from, and is compatible with, the widely deployed entertainment and computing interconnect that is alternately referred to as IEEE 1394, FireWire (originally an Apple term but now broadly used), or iLink (Sony). A decade ago, 1394 technology was already shipping in applications such as digital cameras. The designers of the 1394 architecture optimized the interconnect from day one as a peer-to-peer multimedia-capable bus.

Jointly, the 1394 Trade Association (1394TA) and the former IDB Forum realized that FireWire capabilities would match future automotive networking needs and together defined IDB-1394 (Intelligent transportation systems Data Bus using 1394 technology).

The original IDB-1394 standard specified the use of optical media in the auto because at the time auto designers felt noise would be an issue for copper media. Subsequently, silicon developments and improved shielding technologies have evolved that allow the use of copper cabling. The 1394TA recently augmented the original work with a copper specification and auto designers now have a choice of media. The 1394TA shepherds the auto spec now under the brand 1394 Automotive.

The move toward a networked automobile began more than a decade ago. As electronics moved into systems ranging from mission-critical braking and engine control to entertainment and convenience features, such as music systems and power mirrors, the electronic islands had to be tied to the driver with what quickly became bulky wiring harnesses. The harnesses added significant weight and cost, and were unreliable and inefficient to install and later service. Now, with networking, such as the 1394 Automotive Standard, these issues are resolved.

Max Bassler is vice chair of the 1394 Trade Association; Bill Rose is marketing chair of the Association and an independent consultant; Ricardo Wong is manager for multimedia planning at Nissan's Advanced Engineering Center; and Mike Gardner is marketing manager for Automotive at Molex