Application Report SLLA067 - March 2000 Comparing Bus Solutions F. Alicke; F. Bartholdy; S. Blozis; MSLP Europe F. Dehmelt; P. Forstner; N. Holland; J. Huchzermeier ABSTRACT This report is intended to be a reference tool for finding the most appropriate bus interface solution for today’s advanced system architecture. This paper focuses on bus interface solutions for different backplane applications. It gives an overview of the different bus solutions available from Texas Instruments (TI). Today, advanced bus systems designers have a problem: many different solutions can be used to solve the same problem. The task for the designers is to figure out the optimum solution for their special application. In order to ease this choice, this application report has been created. The different key parameters are composed in a way that developers may easily find the optimum bus solution for their systems. The report is split into product family sections to allow easy distinction between various solutions. Each family-section of this report covers details on the electrical parameters and appropriate protocols, as well as application and feature-benefit information on the chosen product family. All sections are set up in the same order, such that fast comparison and selection of the most appropriate solution is possible. Keywords: ABT, AHC, BTL, CompactPCI, FlatLink, Gigabit, GTL, IEEE1284, IEEE1394, USB, LVDM, LVDS, LVT, PCI, TIA/EIA-232-F (RS–232), TIA/EIA-422-B (RS-422), TIA/EIA-485-A (RS-485), and TIA/EIA-644, SCSI, SERDES, SSTL, GTLP, GTL+, ALVT, FB+, ABTE. CompactPCI is a registered trademark of PICMG. FlatLink and TI are trademarks of Texas Instruments. 1 SLLA067 Contents Overview . 7 Single-Ended Versus Differential Data Transmission. 10 Single-Ended Transmission. 10 Advantages of Single-Ended Transmission. 10 Disadvantages of Single-Ended Transmission. 11 Differential Transmission . 12 Advantages of Differential Transmission. 12 Disadvantages of Differential Transmission. 12 Standard Switching Levels. 13 Interconnectivity . 15 Parallel Versus Serial Transmission. 16 Advantages of Parallel Transmission. 16 Advantages of Serial Transmission. 16 Various Widely Used Data Transmission Topologies. 17 IEEE 1394 Cable and Backplane Applications (FireWire). 18 Electrical . 18 Protocol . 19 Applicability and Typical Application for IEEE 1394. 20 Applicability and Typical Application for IEEE 1394 Backplane. 21 Features . 22 Universal Serial Bus (USB). 23 Electrical . 23 Protocol . 23 Applicability and Typical Applications. 24 Features . 24 TIA/EIA-232 . 25 Electrical . 25 Protocol . 25 Applicability . 25 Features . 26 TIA/EIA-422 . 27 Electrical . 27 Protocol . 27 Applicability . 27 Features . 27 TIA/EIA-485 . 28 Electrical . 28 Protocol . 28 Applicability . 28 Features . 28 SCSI . 29 Electrical . 29 Protocol . 29 Applicability and Typical Application. 29 Features . 30 2 Comparing Bus Solutions SLLA067 TIA/EIA-644 (LVDS) . 31 Electrical . 31 Protocol . 32 Applicability . ..