Performance analysis of the IEEE 1394 serial bus

IEEE 1394 is a standard for a high performance serial bus interface. It encompasses both isochronous transfer mode, which is suitable for real-time applications, and asynchronous transfer mode, which is appropriate for delay-insensitive applications. This standard can be used as a basis for constructing a small-size local area network. Two queueing models are proposed for a network operating under the IEEE 1394 specification. The average waiting time in steady state of an asynchronous packet is calculated, and the effect on it due to isochronous traffic is studied. Numerical results from both analysis and simulation are presented in order to evaluate the performance of such a system.