June 21, 2022
AUSTIN, Texas – June 21, 2022 – CesiumAstro, Inc., today announced it has joined the Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability (DIFI) Consortium, an independent space-industry group advancing interoperability in satellite and ground-system networks. DIFI member organizations contribute to the innovation of the digital transformation of space, satellite, and related space technologies for the benefit of the industry.
“CesiumAstro’s existing phased array payload architecture is software-defined with a digital backend, making all of our current products DIFI-ready by design,” said Erik Luther, Vice President of Product at CesiumAstro. “DIFI will take the standard pioneered as VITA 49 and extend it to support increased operability between antenna, radio, modem, and the cloud, increasing the breadth of applications and improving time to market for our customers.”
Since CesiumAstro’s inception, the company’s active phased array communications payloads have been architected for turnkey, stand-alone operation with integrated waveforms, requiring only ethernet and power. Increased industry support for digital IF will allow CesiumAstro payloads to be used with a wider range of backend modems, broadening both use cases and speed-of-system integration for space and airborne applications.
“At DIFI we are pleased to welcome CesiumAstro as a member,” adds Stuart Daughtridge, Chairman of DIFI and Senior Vice President for Advanced Technologies at Kratos. “As a leader in active phased array space communications, CesiumAstro has a unique offering that is a significant contributor to the digital transformation of our industry and as such will be able to help further the maturity and adoption of our interoperable digital IF standard.”
About Digital IF Interoperability (DIFI) Consortium
The Digital IF Interoperability (DIFI) Consortium 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 founding members of DIFI include Hawkeye 360, Intelsat Corp., Kongsberg Satellite Services AS (KSAT), Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Microsoft, and the U.S. Navy. The DIFI board has approved version 1.0 of an interoperability standard based upon VITA 49, entitled IEEE-ISTO Std 4900-2021: Digital IF Interoperability Standard which can be downloaded at the Consortium’s website.
