Current HF interoperability implementations and applications

With the creation of Stanag 5066 (Profile for HF Data Communication), many implementation developments and applications have evolved. The USA BFEM 66 (ships without ALE) and SCOPE Command HF (air and ground platforms with ALE per Military Standard 188-141) systems have adopted Stanag 5066 as the cornerstone for data interoperability. Each of these programs is global in nature and has specific interoperability and data communications requirements using existing legacy equipment. The overall effect is global proliferation of one data-link protocol, implemented on a variety of equipment configurations. However, there are many system requirements that go beyond the standards, which require configuration setup to be interoperable. The general data-link protocol within Stanag 5066 evokes a traditional selective-repeat approach with traditional error-correction coding techniques. Many aspects of Stanag 5066 allow for far-reaching consequences for implementation applications, including broadcast scenarios. Because Stanag 5066 can be used with a variety of data waveforms (e.g., Military Standard 188-110B, Stanag 4539, Stanag 4285, Stanag 4529, Stanag 4415 and others) with or without ALE, there is considerable flexibility and a variety of implementation configurations. This flexibility increases the interoperability challenges. This paper addresses the interoperability implementations that have evolved for effective operations using ALE (Military Standard 188-141), waveforms (Stanag 4539), and protocols (Stanag 5066) for various applications.