PISCATAWAY, NJ: May 1, 2023:  The Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability (DIFI) Consortium announced today the result of leadership elections for working groups that are driving the evolution of its digital Intermediate Frequency (IF)/Radio Frequency (RF) interoperability specification and certification.  Their work will accelerate the digital transformation of satellite communications, making it more flexible, responsive and capable of end-to-end automation.

Specification Working Group

The group suggests, evaluates and provides recommendations to the Board on changes to the standard.  Its new leaders are Chair Simon Swift, Engineering Director for Digital Technologies at ETL Systems, and Co-Chair John-Paul Szczenpanik, Chief Technology Officer at electronically-steered antenna innovator ALL.SPACE.

Certification Working Group

The group manages the certification software and process that certifies SATCOM products as compliant with the DIFI standard.  Elected as Chair of the group is Keith King, who has served as Principal RF Engineer at Wavestream, and as Co-Chair, Todd Reinking, Vice President of Research at Welkin Sciences.

Membership of the working groups is open to all DIFI member companies.  The working group leaders will serve one-year terms that will open for new elections in April 2024.

“DIFI’s working groups are dealing with an enormous range of use cases,” said DIFI Chairman Stuart Daughtridge.  “Our leaders have excelled at creating a culture of collaboration that respects those use cases and the issues they present. That’s why it is so important for companies to belong to DIFI and send their engineering talent to these meetings. This is where the future is taking shape, and if you’re not at the table, your needs and requirements may not be met.”

About DIFI

The Digital IF Interoperability Consortium (DIFI) is an independent, international group of companies, organizations, and government agencies that have an interest in the interoperability of networks and ground systems supporting space-based operations. Launched in coordination with the IEEE-ISTO, DIFI’s mission is to enable the digital transformation of space, satellite, and related industries through a simple, interoperable Digital IF/RF standard that accelerates industry transformation from L-Band IF to Digital IF while discouraging vendor lock-in. DIFI promotes standards in all satellite application areas where systems interoperability is needed or beneficial, including SATCOM, earth observation, remote sensing, TT&C, and more. The DIFI interoperability standard is based upon VITA 49 and is titled IEEE-ISTO Std 4900-2021: Digital IF Interoperability Standard, which can be downloaded at the Consortium’s website https://dificonsortium.org/.

Contact:

Joni Sterlacci, Program Manager, j.sterlacci@ieee.org