DIFI Elects New Board of Directors
Germany Based WORK Microwave
Elected to the Board of the Global Consortium for the First Time
PISCATAWAY,NJ (September 25, 2024) – The fast-growing Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability Consortium (DIFI) has completed its annual election for its governing Board of Directors. Representatives from Swedish Space Corporation and Washington, DC based Genus Group were returned to their seat, while WORK Microwave was elected for the first time. WORK appointed Jörg Rockstroh, Vice President for Technology & Business Development to serve his first term with DIFI.
DIFI’s Chairman and Director, Kratos’ Vice President of Advanced Technology, Stuart Daughtridge said of the election, “We are thrilled to welcome back two outstanding members to the Board and we welcome WORK Microwave and Jörg. This is an incredibly important time for digital transformation as DIFI compliance is being embraced by more and more companies in the satellite technology and communications sector in both military and private sectors. With new initiatives coming about standardization and certification the new board will be working pretty hard again in 2025!”
Jörg Rockstroh has been with WORK Microwave since 2006, where he leads strategic development across all product lines. Prior to that, Mr. Rockstroh led the development of satellite modem products at WORK and managed the subsequently established Digital Products business unit. According to DIFI, he specializes in modem and system design for satellite and space communication. In addition to his new role with DIFI, he leads WORK Microwave’s contributions to standardization bodies including CCSDS and DVB, where he has also been a member of the Steering Board.
The new board serves until 2026.
For more information about DIFI’s Board of Directors visit: https://dificonsortium.org/about/
For information on membership visit: www.dificonsortium.org
About DIFI
The mission of the Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability (DIFI) Consortium is to enable the digital transformation of space, satellite, and related industries by providing a simple, open, interoperable Digital IF/RF standard that replaces the natural interoperability of analog IF signals and helps prevent vendor lock-in. Today, the satellite industry ground segment relies on coaxial cable to transport RF at intermediate frequencies, such as L-Band, between antennas and modems and through multiple analog devices. Analog IF systems, with their inflexible chain of hardware, are difficult to scale and complex to operate. They are struggling to handle today’s capacity demands and cannot scale up to meet the needs of tomorrow.
The industry needs an open and transparent standard, developed, and adopted not by vendors alone but by users, operators and vendors working together. A standard that meets the broadest range of needs without becoming too complex and costly to implement. A standard that reduces the total cost of ownership and boosts network and terminal agility, performance, and resilience, enabling ground segment to seamlessly adapt to rapidly changing space-layer payloads, orbits and constellations.
Contact:
Joni Sterlacci, Program Manager, j.sterlacci@ieee.org