IEEE-488

IEEE-488 stacking connectors IEEE-488 is a short-range digital communications bus specification. It was created for use with automated test equipment in the late 1960s, and is still in use for that purpose. IEEE-488 was created as HP-IB (Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus), and is commonly called GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus). It has been the subject of several standards.

Origins
In the late 1960s, Hewlett-Packard (HP)[1] was manufacturing various automated test and measurement instruments, such as digital multimeters and logic analyzers. They developed the HP Interface Bus (HP-IB) to enable easier interconnection between instruments and controllers (computers and other instruments). The bus was relatively easy to implement using the technology at the time, using a simple parallel electrical bus and several individual control lines. For example, the HP 59501 Power Supply Programmer and HP 59306A Relay Actuator were both relatively simple HP-IB peripherals implemented only in TTL logic, using no microprocessor. Other manufacturers copied HP-IB, calling their implementation the General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB), and it became a de facto standard for automated and industrial instrument control. As GPIB became popular, it was formalized by various standards organizations.

Standards
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In 1975, the IEEE standardized the bus as Standard Digital Interface for Programmable Instrumentation, IEEE-488 (now IEEE-488.1). It formalized the mechanical, electrical, and basic protocol parameters of GPIB, but said nothing about the format of commands or data. In 1987, IEEE introduced Standard Codes, Formats, Protocols, and Common Commands, IEEE-488.2, re-designating the previous specification as IEEE-488.1. IEEE-488.2 provided for basic syntax and format conventions, as well as device-independent commands, data structures, error protocols, and the like. IEEE-488.2 built on -488.1 without superseding it; equipment can conform to -488.1 without following -488.2. While IEEE-488.1 defined the hardware, and IEEE-488.2 defined the protocol, there was still no standard for instrument-specific commands. Commands to control the same class of instrument (e.g., multimeters) would vary between manufacturers and even models. The US Air Force[2] and later Hewlett-Packard recognized this problem. In 1989, HP developed their TML language[3] which was the forerunner to SCPI Standard Commands for Programmable Instrumentation. SCPI was introduced as an industry standard in 1990.[4] SCPI added standard generic commands, and a series of instrument classes with corresponding class-specific commands. SCPI mandated the IEEE-488.2 syntax, but allowed other (non-IEEE-488.1) physical transports. The IEC developed their own standards in parallel with the IEEE, withIEC-60625-1 and IEC60625-2, later replaced by IEC-60488. National Instruments introduced a backward-compatible extension to IEEE-488.1, originally known as HS-488. It increased the maximum data rate to 8 Mbyte/s, although the rate decreases as more devices are connected to the bus. This was incorporated into the standard in 2003 (IEEE488.1-2003),[5] over HP's objections.[6][7] In 2004, the IEEE and IEC combined their respective standards into a "Dual Logo" IEEE/IEC standard IEC-60488-1, Standard for Higher Performance Protocol for the Standard Digital Interface for Programmable Instrumentation - Part 1: General,[8] replaces IEEE-488.1/IEC60625-1, and IEC-60488-2,Part 2: Codes, Formats, Protocols and Common Commands,[9] replaces IEEE-488.2/IEC-60625-2.[10]

[edit] Characteristics
IEEE-488 is an 8-bit, electrically parallel bus. The bus employs sixteen signal lines eight used for bi-directional data transfer, three for handshake, and five for bus management plus eight ground return lines. Every device on the bus has a unique 5-bit primary address, in the range from 0 to 30 (31 total possible addresses).[11][12]

The standard allows up to 15 devices to share a single physical bus of up to 20 meters total cable length. The physical topology can be linear or star (forked).[13] Active extenders allow longer buses, with up to 31 devices theoretically possible on a logical bus. Control and data transfer functions are logically separated; a controller can address one device as a talker and one or more devices as listeners without having to participate in the data transfer. It is possible for multiple controllers to share the same bus; but only one can be the "Controller In Charge" at a time.[14] In the original protocol, transfers use an interlocked, three-wire readyvalidaccepted handshake.[15] The maximum data rate is about one Mbyte/s. The later HS-488 extension relaxes the handshake requirements, allowing up to 8 Mbyte/s. The slowest participating device determines the speed of the bus.[16]

[edit] Connectors
[edit] IEEE-488
IEEE-488
Pin out

Female IEEE-488 connector Pin 1 Pin 2 Pin 3 Pin 4 Pin 5 Pin 6 Pin 7 Pin 8 Pin 9 DIO1 DIO2 DIO3 DIO4 EOI DAV NRFD NDAC IFC Data input/output bit. Data input/output bit. Data input/output bit. Data input/output bit. End-or-identify. Data valid. Not ready for data. Not data accepted. Interface clear. Service request.

Pin 10 SRQ

Pin 11 ATN Pin 12 SHIELD Pin 13 DIO5 Pin 14 DIO6 Pin 15 DIO7 Pin 16 DIO8 Pin 17 REN Pin 18 GND Pin 19 GND Pin 20 GND Pin 21 GND Pin 22 GND Pin 23 GND Pin 24 Logic ground

Attention.

Data input/output bit. Data input/output bit. Data input/output bit. Data input/output bit. Remote enable. (wire twisted with DAV) (wire twisted with NRFD) (wire twisted with NDAC) (wire twisted with IFC) (wire twisted with SRQ) (wire twisted with ATN)

IEEE-488 specifies a 24-pin Amphenol-designed micro ribbon connector. Micro ribbon connectors have a D-shaped metal shell, but are larger than D-subminiature connectors. They are sometimes called "Centronics connectors" after the 36-pin micro ribbon connector Centronics used for their printers. One unusual feature of IEEE-488 connectors is they commonly use a "double-headed" design, with male on one side, and female on the other (at both ends of the cable). This allows stacking connectors for easy daisy-chaining. Mechanical considerations limit the number of stacked connectors to four or fewer, although a possible workaround involving physically supporting the connectors can expand this. They are held in place by screws, either UTS (now largely obsolete) or metric M3.50.6 threads. By convention, metric screws are colored black, as the two threads do not mate.

[edit] IEC-60625
The IEC-60625 standard prescribes the use of 25-pin D-subminiature connectors (the same as used for the parallel port on IBM-PCs). This connector did not gain significant market acceptance against the established 24-pin connector.

[edit] Capabilities
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Function Source Handshake Acceptor Handshake

Abbreviation SH AH SH1 - complete AH1 - complete

Description / Example

Basic Talker

Extended Talker TE Basic Listener Extended Listener Service Request Remote-Local Parallel Poll Device Clear Device Trigger Controller L LE SR RL PP DC DT C E

T5 - responds to serial poll; untalks when listen address received; talk only capability T6 - untalks when listen address received; no talk only T7 - no serial poll; untalks when listen address received; talk only capability TE0 - no extended talker L3 - Listen only mode; unlistens if talk address received L4 - Unlistens if talk address received LE0 - no extended listener SR0 - no service request capability SR1 - complete RL0 - no local lockout RL1 - complete PP0 - does not respond to Parallel Poll DC1 - complete DT0 - no device trigger capability DT1 - complete C0 - no controller function E1 - open collector drive electronics E2 - three state drivers

More information see Tektronix.[17]

[edit] Use as a computer interface

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2010) HP's designers did not specifically plan for IEEE-488 to be a peripheral interface for generalpurpose computers; the focus was on instrumentation. But when HP's early microcomputers needed an interface for peripherals (disk drives, tape drives, printers, plotters, etc.), HP-IB was readily available and easily adapted to the purpose. HP computer products which used HP-IB included the HP series 80, HP 9800 series,[18] the HP 2100 series,[19] and the HP 3000 series.[20] Some of HP's advanced pocket calculators of the
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1980s, such as the HP-41 and HP-71B series, also had IEEE-488 capabilities, via an optional HP-IL/HP-IB interface module. Other manufacturers adopted GPIB for their computers as well, such as with the Tektronix 405x line. The Commodore PET (introduced 1977) range of personal computers connected their peripherals using the IEEE-488 bus, but with a non-standard card edge connector. Commodore's following 8-bit machines, including the VIC-20, C-64, and C-128, utilized an unrelated, proprietary serial interface, using a round DIN connector, for which they retained the IEEE-488 programming interface and terminology, however. Eventually, faster, more complete standards such as SCSI superseded IEEE-488 for peripheral access.

Rear of the Commodore CBM-II showing card edge connector IEEE-488 port

Rear of the Commodore SFD 1001 floppy disk drive with IEEE-488 port

Rear of a Tektronix TDS 210 digital oscilloscope with IEEE-488 port

Rear view of an Agilent 34970A data acquisition chassis / multimeter

C64 interface

HP 7935 disc drive HP-IB Panel

[edit] Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

Simple hardware interface Ease of connecting multiple device to a single host Allows mixing of slow and fast devices Well-established and mature, widely supported Rugged connectors, held in place by screws, means cables can't easily be accidentally removed as they can with Firewire and USB

[edit] Disadvantages

Mechanically bulky connectors and cables Limited speed and expansion Lack of command protocol standards (before SCPI) Implementation options (e.g. end of transmission handling) can complicate interoperability in pre-IEEE-488.2 devices No mandatory galvanic isolation between bus and devices High cost (compared to RS-232/USB/Firewire/Ethernet) Limited availability (again compared to RS-232/USB/Firewire/Ethernet)