Goal is to help the U.S. DoD and Commercial Operators assure that Digital ground terminals, modems, and components will perform at levels that industry standards
PISCATAWAY, N.J., Jan. 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of the Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability Consortium (DIFI) announced that is has approved a report for the formation of a new working group, the Digital Ground Certification Working Group, with an initial objective to make a series of recommendations to the US Department of Defense on how best to certify DIFI compliant digital ground systems for government's required specification for the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) system. This is a core element of military communications and reinforces the need for digital standards for an increasing range of commercial and defense industry requirements for Space, teleport and GEO digital ground segment sectors. Dan Hannan, President of Sagittek LLC will serve as the chairman of the working group according to DIFI Chairman Stuart Daughtridge.
As Kevin Dunne, the CEO of DIFI board member ETL Systems, which specializes in critical component design for satellite systems, wrote in an article for ViaSatellite in December, "The satellite communications industry is going through a transformative period. The current shift towards virtualization and digitization is leading to innovation, and a whole host of emerging technologies are pushing the boundaries of what is possible.”
This certainly applies to the military and civil government sectors, as well as the commercial markets. In 2024 DISA hosted the MIL-STD-188-164/165 working group, which included representatives from the private sector and Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) stakeholders such as the USA's Space Force Delta 8 and others to review and evolve their certification testing for the WGS system. What continued to emerge is the need to update the certification process to handle the unique aspect of virtualized, digital ground system, where modem digitizers are now separate devices, and Electronically Steered Antennas (ESAs) grow in importance.
The DIFI working group will provide industry input to the government on how the certification process could evolve to efficiently handle things such as digital ground systems and ESA antennas. It is seeking more involvement from defense industry agencies and their prime contractors.
"I am pleased that the DIFI Board accepted the report and its recommendation to assign this new working group to provide critical industry input,” said Stuart Daughtridge, Head of Advanced Technology at Kratos Defense and chairman of the DIFI Consortium. Daughtridge added that to date nine companies have volunteered to be part of group.
In addition to its wide range of commercial companies and satellite operators, DIFI membership includes most of the major military branches and departments as well as NATO.
To see the entire DIFI Milcom Workshop program visit: https://dificonsortium.org/agenda-difi-workshop/
For information about membership in DIFI contact Stuart Daughtridge at [email protected]
About DIFI
The Digital Intermediate Frequency (IF) Interoperability Consortium, or DIFI, has created a standard that enforces interoperability on digital IF/RF technology. Digital IF was developed to overcome the limitations of analog systems but, today, vendor lock-in prevents it from delivering seamless interoperability and severely limits its adoption. A truly interoperable digital IF, on the other hand, will enable transformation to a virtualized ground segment, reducing the total cost of ownership and significantly boosting network and terminal agility and scalability. Compliance with the DIFI standard will ensure that satellite ground segments can seamlessly adapt to rapidly changing space-layer payloads, orbits, and constellations. Ultimately, DIFI promises to elevate the resilience, performance, and capabilities of satellite networks and enable a digital transformation that integrates satellites seamlessly into the larger telecom, IT and GIS markets.
A complete list of DIFI members can be found at https://dificonsortium.org/members/
Contact:
Joni Sterlacci, Sr. Program Manager, [email protected]
