New Version of DIFI Standard Continues Advancing Interoperability in Digital Ground Technology

Record number of companies will exhibit DIFI-compatible satcom products at SATELLITE 2025 in Washington, DC

/EIN News/ -- PISCATAWAY, N.J., March 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability Consortium (DIFI) announced that it has completed work on version 1.2.1 of its interoperability standard (IEEE-ISTO Std 4900-2021). According to DIFI chairman Stuart Daughtridge, the new version of the Standard is a significant improvement in the areas of sync and flow control over the previous version, which was published in August 2023.

As more companies become DIFI-compatible, the consortium’s members have formed a full ecosystem and are set to show their products and technologies, including digitizers, modems, test equipment, signal monitoring systems and virtual ground systems at SATELLITE 2025 in Washington. The transition to truly interoperable digital ground systems is now easier since the industry’s supply chain has DIFI-compatible versions of all necessary equipment, Daughtridge added.

According to DIFI, version 1.2.0 added a standard flow control mechanism, which frees up systems designers from proprietary data flow for buffer management and improves timing synchronization. These changes were enabled by a new Information Class (0x0002) and new Packet Classes (0x0002, 0x0003, 0x0005 and 0x0006).

It was discovered during PlugFest Europe that there were flaws and ambiguities in the original implementation of this. Quickly correcting these flaws with the release of the 1.2.1 specification is an example of how the DIFI consortium seeks to ensure interoperability between vendors prior to equipment reaching the marketplace.

DIFI Board member and Working Group Chair Simon Swift of ETL Technologies (UK) noted that the documentation for version 1.2.1 has also been restructured for clarity and expanded with a table of deviations from VITA49.2, on which the original DIFI standard is based.

According to Swift, “The development of version 1.2.1 was the most challenging task our working group has undertaken to date. Work began at DIFI’s European PlugFest last year, where we identified key issues that required attention.  Much hard work by the group resolved the issues in a wonderful collaborative process.” He added, “However the work doesn’t stop here. Our working groups will continue to perfect and enhance the standard, so that our members’ customers will have confidence when they purchase a DIFI compatible product.”

For a full list of all DIFI members and companies with DIFI compatible products using the new standard that will be at the Satellite 2025 conference, visit https://dificonsortium.org/difi-at-sat25-march-10-2025/

An upcoming Webinar presented by DIFI on the new version of the standard is planned for Thursday, March 20^th at 10:00 AM EST (3:00 PM GMT). For more information visit: www.dificonsortium.org

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 full list of DIFI members and information about membership can be found at https://dificonsortium.org/members/

Contact:

Joni Sterlacci, Sr. Program Manager, joni.sterlacci@ieee-isto.org