September 1, 2021
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Digital Interface Standards Working Group Spearheads SATCOM Industry Initiative for Development of Open Standard

Development of Open Standard

Group issues a rallying call to community to replace L-band IF, paving the way for interoperability, improved performance and costs

Herndon, VA, September 1, 2021: The Digital Interface Standards Working Group (DIS), has invited the satellite communications (SATCOM) community to collaborate on the development of an open interoperability standard for the SATCOM industry. The standard will enable all manufacturers to build interoperable technologies that work in both open and closed network topologies, delivering the most advantages at the lowest cost.

There are various requirements driving the need for an open standard. They include demand for higher throughput and the availability of more satellite bandwidth; the need to deploy and manage networks on a much larger scale; more flexible utilization of bandwidth and the use of higher-order modulations to improve bandwidth efficiency. The traditional analog L-Band modem to RF interface is currently impeding these goals.

Digitizing the interface between modem and RF components using the new open standard, the industry will be able to leverage the latest virtualization, cloud computing and network function virtualization technologies as well as greatly improve the performance and scale of satellite hub, gateway and modem equipment.

In order to make such an interface practical for the industry, interoperability and standardization is key. The Digital Interface Standards Working Group will oversee the creation of the new standard. Current DIS participants include Communications & Power Industries (CPI), DataPath, Datum Systems, Gilat Satellite Networks, SES, ST Engineering iDirect and Wavestream.

In an open letter to the SATCOM industry, the DIS has detailed the work that has already been completed towards an open standard and opens up participation to the wider SATCOM industry. The open letter may be viewed here.

For more information on the DIS, please contact Jim Rosenberg jim.rosenberg@wavestream.com.

Media Contacts:

Julie Bettinger
Vice President Marketing
ST Engineering iDirect
Phone: +1 703 727 7588
Email: jbettinger@idirect.net

Amanda Mogin
Vice President, Administration & Communications
Communications & Power Industries LLC
Phone: +1 650 846-3998
Email: amanda.mogin@cpii.com

Suzanne Ong
SES
Vice President, External Communications
Phone. +352 710 725 500
Email: suzanne.ong@ses.com

Doreet Oren
Senior Director, Solutions Marketing & Corporate Communications
Gilat Satellite Networks
Email: doreeto@gilat.com
Phone: +972 3 925 2472

Tom Cox
Vice President, Business Development & Sales
Wavestream
Phone: +1 909 599 9080
Email: tom.cox@wavestream.com

David Koblinski
President
Datum Systems Inc.
Phone: +1 480 558 5500
Email: dkoblinski@datumsystems.com

Jimene Conn
Marketing Manager
DataPath
Phone: +1 470-261-2706
Email: Jimene.Conn@datapath.com