IDBC: a module-architecture for the integration of distributed high-bandwidth-components

Powerful high-bandwidth components with built-in, high-speed processing are available on the market. The currently used techniques to connect such devices to a main-unit which controls the device and processes the data (e.g. an industrial camera with a PC) are no longer satisfactory. In this paper, a new approach of modules is used. These modules consist of nodes which are linked together with a high-speed serial bus to build a functional entity. The multimedia-bus IEEE 1394 is proposed as this bus because it has the properties which are needed for building flexible modules. Finally, the new approach is verified with a prototype system.