The Road to
Interoperability

WGS + DIFI + AI = More Than Alphabet Soup

11/4/2025

Several great presentations during DIFI Consortium Day at IEEE’s MILCOM 2025 event in Los Angeles. Of special interest, to me at least, was the keynote delivered by A.J. Vigil of Systems Technology, Inc. (Systek) on The Digital Transformation of Satcom, focused particularly on the U.S. government’s Wideband Global Satcom System (WGS), the backbone of the U.S. military’s wideband satellite communications capability.

Dr. Vigil, who has been working with WGS for many years and is an active contributor to a variety of satcom standards, is leading efforts to incorporate digital IF into the WGS ground segment and into defense networks broadly. He reported extremely encouraging news, including results from a demo this summer and a test exercise this fall.

“At PdM WESS we put together a demonstration across three sites,” he said. (See related story here.) In the middle, “We pulled the plug on the antenna at one site and the link failed over to the antenna at the remote site without skipping a beat. We demonstrated some things for the first time to our audience: full-digital IF signal chains, including a virtual digital IF modem, and digital IF combiner/divider through digital IF conversion (IFC), using multiple carriers, two different vendors, and transport over the Army’s Global Agile Integrated Transport Network (GAIT).”

The upshot? “For key U.S. DoW stakeholders, seeing is believing,” he said. “There’s nothing like pulling a guy’s antenna and maintaining the [satellite] link. DIFI was awesome.”

According to Dr. Vigil, “Digital IF equipment from two vendors was evaluated and found to be generally WGS Terminal Cert ready for the applications tested.”

There is a DIFI Working Group focused on the mapping between existing L-Band (analog) WGS requirements and digital IF domain tests that make sense for digital IF modems and terminals. The group plans to engage with SpaceCom Delta 8 Satcom Engineering, the group that writes U.S. DoW Satcom MIL Standards and WGS requirements documents, on an ongoing basis to align on DIFI Standard compliant digital IF modem and terminal testing for WGS.

And there was much more going on in a very productive day for advancing digital IF acceptance. For example, use of AI/ML in consuming DIFI Standard data and characterizing insights for users, including AWS showing constellation identification using an AI agent that was trained on Rhode & Schwartz documentation. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more AI projects in the near future.

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Exploring AI? First Consider Your Ground Architecture

10/7/2025

We can’t escape AI conversations these days, can we? AI may not be everywhere yet, but talk about it is—in magazines, blogs and product roadmaps in every industry. Opportunities for AI value abound in satellite networks, across both space and ground segments. And while AI is raising more questions than answers so far, a few broad technology strokes are becoming clear, especially in the ground network.

One bit of clarity is that to support AI in network operations, software environments beat hardware. For another, interoperability will be key.

Space networking use cases are as diverse as predictive maintenance, improved reliability and automating operations for profit-based management.

And for security. For example, employing AI to actively repel and defend by looking for and quickly reacting to anomalous traffic into and out of the ground M&C. Which highlights the first of those broad stroke conclusions. Virtualized, orchestrated elements enable more organic and dynamic processes such as on-the-fly updates and fixes, which is not only critical for cyber security but is especially needed for automating operations.

One reason (among many) why terrestrial network operators are ahead of satellite operators when it comes to their AI plans is that most have already moved far down the software-defined and cloud-enabled paths.

The second broad conclusion, the need for interoperability, is even more important and fits hand in glove with virtualization. Here’s why.

It’s common knowledge that AI is only as good as its training data. For network operations that means capturing the correct data from disparate elements and systems, all with the right labeling and correlations, and in consistent formats for teaching the AI what you want it to learn.

Purpose-built hardware is usually proprietary, reporting a fixed set of information in a fixed format. Other systems may be able to massage and harmonize that data but can only do so much and only after the fact. With virtualized functions, on the other hand, all information can be exposed as required and evolve over time into formats that are more easily digestible for the AI. In many ways standards are all about supply chain compatibility.

For example, suppose you wanted to train your AI to automatically meet unique network throughput needs while optimizing overall power consumption. Say you have three gateways, each differentiated for diverse environmental factors, and all with differing levels of capability and costs. In addition to external data such as weather, you’ll need a wide variety of component, system, network and business information, including very specific and accurate power consumption data and current configuration for each application. Acquiring this data from some hardware may not even be possible, and without rigorous standards compliance would be extremely difficult to correlate. In a standards-based software environment, however, while it may require a resource commitment, it is not technically challenging to build and scale a software or cloud environment in ways that allow access and extraction of any necessary information in consistent, AI-friendly formats.

What’s more, the technology challenge of growing and future-proofing systems is commonplace and perpetual. And AI isn’t the only fundamental tech change we are facing today. While we in the satellite industry are just now getting to understand, plan for and implement 5G NTN, the terrestrial network world is already beginning to define 6G.

According to a recent white paper written by research firm Analysys-Mason, “6G will be an AI-native technology… As optical inter-satellite links become commonplace in low-earth orbit, orchestration platforms must be ready to compute optimal network configurations and traffic routes in a considerably more complicated system. As the size of the interconnected network grows, the number of possible configurations increases exponentially, and machine learning (ML) tools will be required to compute viable configurations in real time.”

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Better Network Resilience Now. And more Coming…Well…Now

9/10/2025

One of the primary considerations for anyone I talk to on the defense side of the satellite world (and the biggest consideration for many) is network resilience. Regardless of the mission—whether satcom, sensing or something else—reliability, availability and survivability across satellites, signals and network are critical. And with active DIFI member organizations including the U.S. Space Force, DISA, DoD CIO and NATO, the subject comes up a lot.

In fact, NATO recently tested DIFI standard 1.2.1 for their evolution to digital ground concluding that while enhancements would be valuable, today’s benefits include supporting diversity & resilience, smaller footprint, scaling and management. Angelo Ricciardi, NATO’s satcom space segment lead engineer, is the showcase speaker at DIFI’s 2025 DIFI PlugFest Europe happening this week in Holzkirchen, Germany, where devices from 12 companies are being evaluated.

A significant enhancement supporting resiliency has already been added in the just-released version 1.3 of the DIFI standard. The addition of Inbound Link Establishment Query & Response enables DIFI-compatible devices to negotiate parameters with each other.

How does this make the network more resilient? The standard is now “stateful,” meaning the status of the links between devices can be monitored continuously and can automatically recover from errors as operating conditions change. For example, suppose the link between a digitizer and a software modem were to lose connection due to a hardware or network failure. The situation would be detected automatically, and a new modem spun up on different hardware in just seconds to minimize the impact

I’m sure we’ll also be hearing more about resiliency requirements and solutions at the DIFI Workshop on The Digital Transformation of Satcom during MILCOM 2025 coming October 6-10 in Los Angeles. This will be the third year for a full day of interoperability and transformation topics at MILCOM. DIFI Workshop Day will be on October 6, including a keynote presentation from Archie Kujawski, chief engineer for the U.S. Army’s PdM Satcom. We are inviting paper, poster and demo submissions for the event now.

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Private 5G Is a Hot Topic. Here’s How Space Can Make It Even Hotter.

8/12/2025

Private 5G networks are a hot topic among enterprise IT leaders, but the cost and complexity are giving them pause. According to Ericsson’s annual State of Enterprise Connectivity report, 52% of businesses cited the cost of deployment and maintenance as a primary barrier to deployment, while just under half of respondents named the complexity associated with upgrading hardware to support the network and 41% noted existing infrastructure issues.

Despite these headwinds, private network and the related network slicing are two of the fasting growing market segments for 5G deployments. Business leaders clearly recognize the value of private 5G in enabling new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), with 92% of survey respondents stating that next-generation connectivity is critical to leveraging these technologies.

Because private 5G networks are dedicated to a specific organization or enterprise, they provide enhanced reliability, latency and security as compared to public networks, which optimizes the performance of AI and IoT tools and applications.

I believe that satellite networks are a key to further drive private 5G-enabled business innovation. Satellite has long played a critical role in providing reliable communication services via providing primary connectivity to regions unreached by terrestrial networks and/or providing highly reliable backup connectivity if the terrestrial connection fails.

In a private 5G scenario, an enterprise could ensure pervasive connectivity by integrating satellite into its wireless wide area network (WWAN) and leveraging software-defined networking to intelligently route traffic based on network conditions. For example, the high-speed data transfers needed by AI could be sent over the terrestrial 5G network, while less latency-sensitive traffic would be routed over the satellite link, or all traffic would automatically be transferred to the satellite network if the terrestrial network fails for any reason.

Combining that technology with a managed service model, such as those offered by a range of integrators, mobile network operators and hyperscalers can go a long way toward addressing the value and complexity challenges of private 5G and unlocking the full value of advanced technologies for enterprise users.

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A Catalyst for Good: Harnessing the Power of Telco/Satcom Integration

7/15/2025

There’s been a lot of talk about telco/satcom integration, where terrestrial and satellite networks are blended to create a seamless, resilient, end-to-end network, but there have been fewer concrete examples that illustrate why that integration matters and how it might work.

Kratos and a handful of industry-leading companies from both the satellite and telecom industries took a solid step toward changing that paradigm last month, demonstrating how telco and satcom operators could create a single service that would deliver full data connectivity to emergency responders. The demo took place at the DTW Ignite event in Copenhagen, an annual global summit organized by TM Forum, a global industry organization driving digital business transformation.

A natural disaster frequently disrupts terrestrial network connectivity—sometimes for an extended period of time—and this disruption is more than an inconvenience for these communities. First responders such as emergency medical personnel, firefighters and relief agencies need access to reliable communications channels. Integrating satellite communications with the terrestrial network can provide that access, but ensuring the end-to-end connectivity needed to support lifesaving emergency services necessitates the integration of not only networks, but also back-office functions such as service assurance, SLA management and settlement.

The demonstration at the DTW event was one of the TM Forum’s Catalyst projects, which are proof-of-concept efforts that address industry challenges using TM Forum’s best practices and standards. Titled Satcom with an Edge, the project built on previous Catalyst work to demonstrate how SD-WAN can enable intelligent traffic routing across networks and orbits based on application requirements. It also showed how TM Forum Open APIs can be used across terrestrial and satcom environments to deliver an end-to-end service that is abstracted from the underlying network technology. For first responders, this means emergency response teams can connect with each other and with mission-critical cloud services to save lives and rebuild.

I believe that this project was groundbreaking in that it provides a blueprint for other use cases that depend on hybrid connectivity services, and I’m proud to say that the TM Forum judges agreed with my assessment. Satcom with an Edge won the Outstanding Catalyst title in the Tech for Good category, which recognizes the exemplary use of technology to positively impact both community welfare and organizational culture.

For more information, and to see for yourself the hard work of this team and the impressive outcomes it attained, check out the Catalyst project page here.

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Breaking Down the Argument for RF over Fiber

6/17/2025

As you may have guessed, I’m pretty bullish about the role that RF over IP (RFoIP) will play in the digitalization of the space industry. RFoIP, along with an interoperable standard such as DIFI, enables flexibility, performance and dynamic operations that aren’t possible with the legacy options of analog signal transport over coax and RF over Fiber (RFoF). While those options have value for specific use cases, they are both limited by the need for dedicated coax/dark fiber connectivity and suffer performance degradation over long distances.

I’m confident enough in my belief that DIFI is the path forward for the satellite industry that I’m willing to play devil’s advocate and address some concerns raised about RFoIP. In no particular order, here are the most recent concerns I have seen, followed by my comments.

Concern 1: Many regions lack the IP network capacity to transport wideband signals and gateway traffic using RFoIP

This is probably the biggest knock on RFoIP, and rightfully so. RFoIP does require a significant amount of IP bandwidth—a single MHz of RF bandwidth can require up to 20Mbps of IP bandwidth. However, the largest satcom signals in commercial use today are 500Mhz in bandwidth and they can be comfortably transported on a standard 10Gbps IP network. For larger signals that are planned for the near future and for gateway applications, 40Gbps and 100Gbps IP networks and networking equipment are widely available today in all parts of the world at reasonable costs. Even the 5Ghz of spectrum that is available from full-use Q/V band will fit within a 100Gbps IP network. I saw one company argue that you should not use RFoIP because it can’t handle 6GHz bandwidth signals. I’m not sure where there is 6GHz of continuous spectrum available for satcom use today, let alone a contiguous 6GHz signal being transmitted. However, if this is a problem that you face today, I’m willing to concede that RFoF or analog transport over coax may be the most effective solution in this extreme case.

Concern 2: RFoIP solutions suffer substantial latency, which affects system performance

In some cases, RFoIP can add incremental latency to the overall satellite link performance—primarily from the IP network itself. However, other than some niche use cases such as high-speed trading or perhaps competition-level first-person shooter video gaming, the latency impact of RFoIP is insignificant when compared to the overall latency of the link and that of traditional analog or RFoF. What is important for many applications is the need for consistent latency, which can be tightly controlled within an RFoIP network.

Concern 3: IP networks are inherently insecure

Implying that analog networks are the more secure option is disingenuous. Specialized low volume analog or RFoF equipment software and firmware tend not to be regularly updated, which puts them at higher risk of hacking than their digital standard IT networking counterparts. Hackers have time to attack and find vulnerabilities in these static systems that they can exploit at will (just ask Viasat). Standard IT network equipment, on the other hand, follows industry best practices in cybersecurity procedures with regular updating and maintaining of the software and operating systems, which is critical regardless of whether it’s in the analog or digital realm.

Concern 4: Replacing existing infrastructure and teleport hardware to implement RFoIP is costly

This is a fair point, but also true of other transport options. Usually, new transport capabilities are only introduced with new satellites and/or bandwidth needs. For most new services/applications, RFoIP is the most cost-effective and future-proof option. However, if you’re considering a very large new bandwidth use case that 1) is just a single point to a single point, without redundant paths; 2) has no requirements for dynamic operations or switching; 3) already has dark fiber or coax available and installed for use; and 4) the transport distance is limited, then RFoF or analog RF transport might be the better solution. But without those conditions, it is hard to beat RFoIP.

At the end of the day, RF over IP delivers the network resiliency, flexibility and security that the satellite world needs to fully embrace to enable next-generation capabilities.

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