Icon-PEP 3.0

Icon-PEP is a major new release of Icon-PEP that adds a range of new capabilities and improved performance.

Icon-PEP enables deployment of IP Applications over an HF Radio using a STANAG 5066 link layer. Icon-PEP supports IP packet switching and provides optimized support for TCP applications, such as Web Browsing and Command and Control (C2),  using a Performance Enhancing Proxy (PEP).

It generally provides two core services

1. Generic switching of IP packets over an HF network, causing it to act as an IP subnet. This enables support of any IP applications.
2. Optimized support for TCP over IP using a Performance Enhancing Proxy (PEP) to optimize TCP performance over HF.

You can learn more about Icon-PEP here.

Improved Performance of Streaming Service

Significant changes in detailed operation were made to improve stream performance by tuning when data is compressed and sent. Performance is also helped by conformance to the latest version of STANAG 5066 Annex W.

Support of STANAG 5066 Extended Flow Control

Icon-PEP will negotiate and use STANAG 5066 Annex S extended flow control if this is available on the server. This will improve overall system performance and will make C2 Congestion control much more effective. Server-side support of this is planned for Icon-5066 4.0.

IP Multicast Support

IP Multicast is supported with three modes:

1. Point-to-point ARQ link between two networks.

2. STANAG 5066 non-ARQ broadcast to support multiple nodes operating with CSMA or WTRP.

3. STANAG 5066 non-ARQ broadcast to utilize STANAG 5066 broadcast mode.

Details in the Isode white paper “IP Multicast over HF Radio.”

C2 Congestion Control

Icon-PEP 3.0 provides congestion control to optimize C2. Details in the Isode white paper “Congestion Control for C2 over HF Radio”.

This is a generic capability, initially provided for the server-to-server TAK protocol. This also enables TAK monitoring.

Improved Stream Monitoring

The TCP Stream monitoring UI has several improvements:

• It provides more and clearer information on the connection state.

• Improved reporting of error situations.

• Detailed information on the overheads of each layer and compression.

• Shows the amount of data that is buffered due to Icon-5066 flow control.

Improved TAK Support

Several improvements to TAK are provided, described in the Isode white paper “Operating TAK over HF Radio“. Key changes:

• Congestion control for server-to-server TAK.

• Support of Serverless TAK using the new IP multicast capability.

• Complete decoding of TAK PDUs and operator display.

• New TAK operator view to show traffic.

Miscellaneous

• Copy stream log files to the clipboard.

• Download server log files.