IEEE-1355 DATA-STROBE LINKS - ATM SPEED AT RS232 COST

IEEE standard 1355 (1995) describes several transmission schemes for h igh-speed, low-latency data communications. One scheme, that employing Data-Strobe encoding, provides robust communications at up to about 2 00 Mb/s. The low-level protocols can be implemented with modest logic, as has been proved by the design of an interface in a low-end PLD. Co nsideration of the building blocks used shows similarities with the bl ocks used to implement RS232 transceivers. This paper compares the cir cuitry required to implement IEEE 1355 Data-Strobe links with that req uired for the ubiquitous RS232 modem connection standard and concludes that they are very similar. For approximately the same silicon cost a s RS232, a data-strobe link can provide a communication channel with a performance comparable to that of ATM. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.