Nissan To Unveil A Multimedia Car
A new prototype vehicle, by Nissan, that incorporates a multimedia platform capable of showing up to 4 moving images on an onboard screen at once, will be displayed at this year’s World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems. With several cameras located on the car, the driver will be able to see all things around them. The prototype will display the latest in safety equipment as well as multimedia capabilities. And to top it all off, the car is IEEE 1394-Compatible.
The car is fitted with one monitor in the front and another in the rear seat area. Depending on the chosen mode, the front seat monitor can display up to four images at one time from seven different cameras mounted at the front, side and rear of the vehicle, giving the driver all-round visibility including blind spots. Simultaneously, the rear seat monitor can show DVD images.
The multimedia capabilities are made possible by the adoption of a high-speed 1394 optical fiber network communications system which allows a data transmission rate of 400 Mbps (mega-bites per second). Whereas conventional analogue cables are only capable of transmitting one image, the optical network communications system allows the transmission of multiple images.
The high-speed 1394 optical network communications system is built with optical fiber compatible with the IEEE 1394 data communications standard. Data transmission over bus systems compatible with IEEE 1394 has already been implemented for personal computers, digital cameras and other consumer electronics products.
The application of optical fiber also means that the weight of the cables can be reduced to about one-half the weight of a conventional wiring harness.