The latest attempt to get 1394 Firewire operating across a wireless network kicked off last week with the foundation of a working group seeking to tie the connectivity standard to 802.15.3 Personal Area Networks (PANs).
The group's work could lead to 100Mbps 10m wireless links capable of maintaining multiple high-quality MPEG-2 streams. The group expects to have its specification done and dust in 12 months' time, EE Times reports.
To date, wireless 1394 -'Firewireless' - efforts have centred on hooking the 1394 protocols up to 802.11 and before that proprietary transports. The 1394.1 spec. details how to bridge 1394 to 802.11a. The 1394 Trade Association's 1394-to-802.11 protocol adaptation layer (PAL) build on that spec. to deliver 1394 across an 802.11a network. The PAL supports the 5C (aka Digital Transmission Content Protection) DRM scheme designed to stop anyone sneakily copying commercial content while it's being transmitted over a wired 1394 link.
An 802.11a network provides a working data throughput of 25-30Mbps. The addition of the PAL overhead reduces this even further from the WLAN standard's raw data rate of 54Mbps. 802.11a also lacks the quality of service (QoS) provision seen as essential for the transmission of commercial-quality video over a wireless link.
Enter 802.15.3, a specification being groomed for IEEE standard status that provides ad hoc wireless PANs - short range (1-50m) and ad hoc, in other words. 802.15.3 builds on the 802.15 standard by adding QoS specifically to allow the PAN to carry digital imaging and multimedia data. It also builds in data security, implementing privacy and authentication services. 802.15.3 operates in the 2.4GHz band at 11, 22, 33, 44, and 55Mbps.
Unlike 802.11 connections, 802.15.3 is designed for peer-to-peer operation rather than routing data through an access point, whether that's a base-station or a client machine configured as one. Access points can become network bottlenecks.
The final spec. is expected to be submitted for IEEE approval in June. In the meantime, an alternative spec., 802.15.3a, is under development to create a higher data PHY to replace the 55Mbps 2.4GHz PHY in 802.15.3. It's increasingly likely that 802.15.3a will be based on ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, but it has to get through selection procedures this month and in July first. However, it has the potential to reach data rates of 100Mbps and ultimately the 400Mbps (at 5m) offered by standard 1394 wired links.
The group developing the PAL for 802.15.3/3a expects to have a completed spec. in a year's time. Products using 802.15.3 are anticipated to be available during Q4, according to the WiMedia Alliance, a Wi-Fi Alliance-style organisation formed to promote consumer multimedia PAN-based wireless networking. It was set up last September by Eastman Kodak, HP, Motorola, Philips, Samsung, Sharp Labs of America, Time Domain and XtremeSpectrum. Many of them are members of the 1394 PAL-defining working group.
Interoperability with 1394 is key to ensuring compatibility with wired devices and supporting consumer electronics interconnection schemes based on 1394, such as the Home AV Interoperability (HAVi) standard. It also provides, through 5C, the level of DRM that commercial content creators are insisting upon and the consumer electronics industry will undoubtedly demand too. It's what takes 802.15.3 beyond being just another network.
If the WiMedia Alliance has its way, Wi-Fi will continue to be the standard for wirelessly networking computer systems, and WiMedia will become the standard for wirelessly networking home entertainment systems. Wi-Fi may have a considerable lead in mindshare, but it's popularity is based on computing applications - it doesn't have anything like the same profile in the consumer electronics space.
If the working group's timetable is met, 802.15.3-based wireless consumer electronics devices are likely to appear before their 802.11-based equivalents, and will offer better performance in any case. However, with PC companies pursuing home entertainment-oriented 'digital hub' strategies, some clash between the standards is inevitable, particularly given the way 802.11 has been adopted by companies offering remote players that link your hi-fi to your PC-based MP3 collection, as demonstrated by products like Turtle Beach's Audiotron and others.
More likely, Wi-Fi will emerge as a consumer electronics network standard too, co-existing with WiMedia as a cable-replacement technology, just as today Wi-Fi sits alongside Bluetooth, as network and cable replacements, respectively.
Either way, there's no doubt the consumer electronics industry is looking to home networking, particularly wireless, as a way of tempting buyers with a whole new generation of products.
I could expand on this and go into why the American way makes more sense, but...eh...
Please do. At first glance, the EEA (Everyone Except America) way seems to be more sense. 1st, what day is it? Then, what month is it? Then, what year is it? It's going from least to greatest time unit, rather than 2nd/3rd/1st like the American way.
Yeah, sod the Firewire thing... explain the logic behind the US system of dates. (I was going to say the US dating system, but that's an entirely different thing alltogether...and very pleasantly 'results driven' I might say if memory serves; sorry...rambling)
I agree that the American way of writing dates is stupid. Lesst signifant digits are what's important. When you want to know a time, what do you want to know..the second it happened or the year. Same thing with scientific notation.
Personaly I believe that we should through all caution to the wind, and make a time system based upon the metric system (ie base 10). Sure for the first couple hundred years it would be a little strange, and the time the earth travels around the sun in coralation to the number of days isn' going to change, but I say what the hey. Change is good, even if the change itself isnt good, right?
It will happen eventually. 1000 metric minutes, 100 metric seconds for time is fairly obvious. Dates get trickier. Do you have 10 days in a week, and 36 weeks in a year (with a leep week every 2 years)? Or 10 months in a year? Or do you just get rid of it altogether, and have 365/2005?
The problem with adoption of metric dates in the west is the more extreme christians who believe a week should be 7 days, it says so in the bible. How do you reconcile that with a metric date?
My wife, who is Spanish, got her temporary green card and was told to come back next year to renew. The experation date was 1 year 1 day after her visit, which made sense with what she was told. The experiation date was also her Mother's birthday, so it was easy to remember. Problem was, she was reading this very familiar date as a Spanish person would. Well, about 10 months later (1 month after her card expired) and 2 weeks before a trip out of the US she looked at her card and had one of those "OH MY GOD JESUS F??????" moments. We'll after much streess she got it renewed and we made the trip. I think she won't make that mistake again.
Obviously, the proper way is the new European standard:
2003-05-09
That's not a European standard, it's an ISO standard - designed not for people to read, but for computers, because no one can get them to sort dates in the right order if the data is just "string".
On a Mac note - one of the things Copland was supposed to introduce was "logical" ordering in the Finder, so that you got:
Please do. At first glance, the EEA (Everyone Except America) way seems to be more sense. 1st, what day is it? Then, what month is it? Then, what year is it? It's going from least to greatest time unit, rather than 2nd/3rd/1st like the American way.
Enlighten me.
Barto
The American way makes sense because usually, the day is actually the least important. This is because a month has an immediate mental association, whereas a day can usually occur in any month.
For example, I don't care that a war started on the 14th, I care that it started in the middle of the winter. I don't care on what day you were born, I want to immediately know your zodiac sign.
When the day is mentioned first, it is usually disregarded by the listener until he/she can place it mentally on a calendar, based on what month it is in. By making the month association first, it is a more intuitive thought process because people will associate emotions and memories with a month (think weather conditions, holidays, birthdays) much moreso than a day. If I say "the 4th day of..." and your birthday is on the 4th of March, but I end up saying December, you have to completely change your mental associations with the sentence I'm finishing. If I start to say "December...", and you live in the northern hemisphere, you'll probably think of winter sports, cold weather, hot chocolate, etc., which would always be appropriate associations no matter which day in December I happen to be talking about.
That's the way it makes the most sense to me, anyway. Anyone think different (bad joke, sorry)? I'd agree, though, that the year/month/day method makes the most sense by extension of the above reasoning, even to this stupid American.
I'm not sure how you live your life, but the VAST majority of dates I need to remember are most important based on the day.
Meeting with customer 4th, computer needs to be finished by 10th, going out 11th, need to study 15th, Apple tests 23rd...
Barto
Well, obviously the argument is moot if you're only talking about days within a single month. Then the month and year aren't even mentioned because they're assumed. I don't think you understood my previous post.
In general, Americans have more mental associations with a particular month than a particular day. This makes sense logically because a given month will have set holidays, weather patterns, etc. that go along with it that a person will consciously or subconsciously associate with their memories, and frame these memories around the current thought. Do you have an explanation why the day listed first is better for human associations?
Think about it... 05/2003 (hot weather, WWDC coming up, etc.) has more meaning than 9th/2003. That's the way most Americans think, anyway.
If I have an appointment on d/m/y 12/5/2003, the 12 is most important. Same with a letter written to me, or most other dates I have to remember. Back in the stone age, 5/12/2003 was better because seasons were more important than days. Similar to the imperial system
Comments
Team targets 802.15.3 for wireless video networks
By Tony Smith
Posted: 08/05/2003 at 12:01 GMT
The latest attempt to get 1394 Firewire operating across a wireless network kicked off last week with the foundation of a working group seeking to tie the connectivity standard to 802.15.3 Personal Area Networks (PANs).
The group's work could lead to 100Mbps 10m wireless links capable of maintaining multiple high-quality MPEG-2 streams. The group expects to have its specification done and dust in 12 months' time, EE Times reports.
To date, wireless 1394 -'Firewireless' - efforts have centred on hooking the 1394 protocols up to 802.11 and before that proprietary transports. The 1394.1 spec. details how to bridge 1394 to 802.11a. The 1394 Trade Association's 1394-to-802.11 protocol adaptation layer (PAL) build on that spec. to deliver 1394 across an 802.11a network. The PAL supports the 5C (aka Digital Transmission Content Protection) DRM scheme designed to stop anyone sneakily copying commercial content while it's being transmitted over a wired 1394 link.
An 802.11a network provides a working data throughput of 25-30Mbps. The addition of the PAL overhead reduces this even further from the WLAN standard's raw data rate of 54Mbps. 802.11a also lacks the quality of service (QoS) provision seen as essential for the transmission of commercial-quality video over a wireless link.
Enter 802.15.3, a specification being groomed for IEEE standard status that provides ad hoc wireless PANs - short range (1-50m) and ad hoc, in other words. 802.15.3 builds on the 802.15 standard by adding QoS specifically to allow the PAN to carry digital imaging and multimedia data. It also builds in data security, implementing privacy and authentication services. 802.15.3 operates in the 2.4GHz band at 11, 22, 33, 44, and 55Mbps.
Unlike 802.11 connections, 802.15.3 is designed for peer-to-peer operation rather than routing data through an access point, whether that's a base-station or a client machine configured as one. Access points can become network bottlenecks.
The final spec. is expected to be submitted for IEEE approval in June. In the meantime, an alternative spec., 802.15.3a, is under development to create a higher data PHY to replace the 55Mbps 2.4GHz PHY in 802.15.3. It's increasingly likely that 802.15.3a will be based on ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, but it has to get through selection procedures this month and in July first. However, it has the potential to reach data rates of 100Mbps and ultimately the 400Mbps (at 5m) offered by standard 1394 wired links.
The group developing the PAL for 802.15.3/3a expects to have a completed spec. in a year's time. Products using 802.15.3 are anticipated to be available during Q4, according to the WiMedia Alliance, a Wi-Fi Alliance-style organisation formed to promote consumer multimedia PAN-based wireless networking. It was set up last September by Eastman Kodak, HP, Motorola, Philips, Samsung, Sharp Labs of America, Time Domain and XtremeSpectrum. Many of them are members of the 1394 PAL-defining working group.
Interoperability with 1394 is key to ensuring compatibility with wired devices and supporting consumer electronics interconnection schemes based on 1394, such as the Home AV Interoperability (HAVi) standard. It also provides, through 5C, the level of DRM that commercial content creators are insisting upon and the consumer electronics industry will undoubtedly demand too. It's what takes 802.15.3 beyond being just another network.
If the WiMedia Alliance has its way, Wi-Fi will continue to be the standard for wirelessly networking computer systems, and WiMedia will become the standard for wirelessly networking home entertainment systems. Wi-Fi may have a considerable lead in mindshare, but it's popularity is based on computing applications - it doesn't have anything like the same profile in the consumer electronics space.
If the working group's timetable is met, 802.15.3-based wireless consumer electronics devices are likely to appear before their 802.11-based equivalents, and will offer better performance in any case. However, with PC companies pursuing home entertainment-oriented 'digital hub' strategies, some clash between the standards is inevitable, particularly given the way 802.11 has been adopted by companies offering remote players that link your hi-fi to your PC-based MP3 collection, as demonstrated by products like Turtle Beach's Audiotron and others.
More likely, Wi-Fi will emerge as a consumer electronics network standard too, co-existing with WiMedia as a cable-replacement technology, just as today Wi-Fi sits alongside Bluetooth, as network and cable replacements, respectively.
Either way, there's no doubt the consumer electronics industry is looking to home networking, particularly wireless, as a way of tempting buyers with a whole new generation of products.
http://www.eet.com/sys/news/OEG20030502S0060
Team targets 802.15.3 for wireless video networks
By Tony Smith
Posted: 08/05/2003 at 12:01 GMT
so nice to know that we can get news 3 months in advance in this world
Originally posted by ThunderPoit
so nice to know that we can get news 3 months in advance in this world
I know its a joke, but...
Thats read as "The 8th of May 2003", versus "May 8th 2003", I don't like it either, damm Europeans
Originally posted by biaachmonkie
I know its a joke, but...
Thats read as "The 8th of May 2003", versus "May 8th 2003", I don't like it either, damm Europeans
I could expand on this and go into why the American way makes more sense, but...eh...
Originally posted by Eugene
I could expand on this and go into why the American way makes more sense, but...eh...
Please do. At first glance, the EEA (Everyone Except America) way seems to be more sense. 1st, what day is it? Then, what month is it? Then, what year is it? It's going from least to greatest time unit, rather than 2nd/3rd/1st like the American way.
Enlighten me.
Barto
2003-05-09
Originally posted by Chucker
Obviously, the proper way is the new European standard:
2003-05-09
That would make the most sense, conforming to other measurements. That is, getting more precise left-to-right.
Barto
BEN
The problem with adoption of metric dates in the west is the more extreme christians who believe a week should be 7 days, it says so in the bible. How do you reconcile that with a metric date?
Barto
My wife, who is Spanish, got her temporary green card and was told to come back next year to renew. The experation date was 1 year 1 day after her visit, which made sense with what she was told. The experiation date was also her Mother's birthday, so it was easy to remember. Problem was, she was reading this very familiar date as a Spanish person would. Well, about 10 months later (1 month after her card expired) and 2 weeks before a trip out of the US she looked at her card and had one of those "OH MY GOD JESUS F??????" moments. We'll after much streess she got it renewed and we made the trip. I think she won't make that mistake again.
Originally posted by Eugene
I could expand on this and go into why the American way makes more sense, but...eh...
The *American* date scheme makes no sense at all - and even the US government has us foreigners fill in immigration cards with dd/mm/yyyy format.
It's not a "European" thing to use this format, eveyone in the world uses it except the US!?
Originally posted by Chucker
Obviously, the proper way is the new European standard:
2003-05-09
That's not a European standard, it's an ISO standard - designed not for people to read, but for computers, because no one can get them to sort dates in the right order if the data is just "string".
On a Mac note - one of the things Copland was supposed to introduce was "logical" ordering in the Finder, so that you got:
1
2
10
14
Rather than
1
10
14
2
Originally posted by Barto
Please do. At first glance, the EEA (Everyone Except America) way seems to be more sense. 1st, what day is it? Then, what month is it? Then, what year is it? It's going from least to greatest time unit, rather than 2nd/3rd/1st like the American way.
Enlighten me.
Barto
The American way makes sense because usually, the day is actually the least important. This is because a month has an immediate mental association, whereas a day can usually occur in any month.
For example, I don't care that a war started on the 14th, I care that it started in the middle of the winter. I don't care on what day you were born, I want to immediately know your zodiac sign.
When the day is mentioned first, it is usually disregarded by the listener until he/she can place it mentally on a calendar, based on what month it is in. By making the month association first, it is a more intuitive thought process because people will associate emotions and memories with a month (think weather conditions, holidays, birthdays) much moreso than a day. If I say "the 4th day of..." and your birthday is on the 4th of March, but I end up saying December, you have to completely change your mental associations with the sentence I'm finishing. If I start to say "December...", and you live in the northern hemisphere, you'll probably think of winter sports, cold weather, hot chocolate, etc., which would always be appropriate associations no matter which day in December I happen to be talking about.
That's the way it makes the most sense to me, anyway. Anyone think different (bad joke, sorry)? I'd agree, though, that the year/month/day method makes the most sense by extension of the above reasoning, even to this stupid American.
Now, what was this thread about again?
Meeting with customer 4th, computer needs to be finished by 10th, going out 11th, need to study 15th, Apple tests 23rd...
Barto
Originally posted by Barto
I'm not sure how you live your life, but the VAST majority of dates I need to remember are most important based on the day.
Meeting with customer 4th, computer needs to be finished by 10th, going out 11th, need to study 15th, Apple tests 23rd...
Barto
Well, obviously the argument is moot if you're only talking about days within a single month. Then the month and year aren't even mentioned because they're assumed. I don't think you understood my previous post.
In general, Americans have more mental associations with a particular month than a particular day. This makes sense logically because a given month will have set holidays, weather patterns, etc. that go along with it that a person will consciously or subconsciously associate with their memories, and frame these memories around the current thought. Do you have an explanation why the day listed first is better for human associations?
Think about it... 05/2003 (hot weather, WWDC coming up, etc.) has more meaning than 9th/2003. That's the way most Americans think, anyway.
Barto