The DirecNet™ standard reference architecture: A roadmap for interoperability

The Open Group's DirecNet™ Task Force is an industry-led consortium consisting of twelve major aerospace firms. Its goal is to develop a vendor-neutral interoperability standard for a next generation directional networking waveform. The waveform developed will be IP-enabled, support the use of directional high bandwidth links, and the use of ad hoc mobile mesh networking. A key objective of the Task Force is to bring the advantages of commercial interoperability and standards development processes into the government arena. At this time, the Task Force has completed and released an overview and reference architecture volume as well the standard for a bandwidth-efficient PHY layer. This paper reviews the selected DirecNet architecture and on-going technical work of the consortium.