WhitepapersProduct and Market Focused Whitepapers

IP Routing over HF

This white paper looks at supporting IP routing over HF and introduces the HF Routing Information Protocol (HF-RIP). It starts by looking at Isode’s experience with the Icon-PEP implementation of STANAG 5066 Annex U IP Client. Then it considers requirements that go beyond this for a more generic approach.

Managing SNMP Devices with Red/Black

Isode’s Red/Black product provides a flexible management capability, particularly oriented towards managing HF communications chains. Red/Black provides an SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) driver that enables management of devices that offer an SNMP interface. This White Paper explains how this works and shows what can and cannot be achieved with this driver.

Icon-TRANSEC: Providing AES Crypto for STANAG 5066

This white paper looks at Isode experience in providing AES TRANSEC level security for STANAG 5066. This work follows Annex T of STANAG 5066 “STANAG 5066 TRANSEC Crypto Sublayer using AES and other Protocols”. It summarizes work on Icon-TRANSEC which is an Isode prototype product for use with Isode’s Icon-5066 STANAG 5066 server

Automating use of HF Directional Antennae for Mobile Unit Support with ALE and STANAG 5066

HF Directional Antennae can provide significantly better performance than omni-directional antennae. To use a Directional Antenna in support of a Mobile Unit (MU) it is important to correctly point a shore Antenna at the MU and to track its movement. This white paper explores what is needed to achieve this, both for the simple case where an antenna is dedicated to an MU and in various scenarios where Antennae are shared.

Isode's HF Vision & Products

This whitepaper gives a summary of Isode’s approach to providing products for HF radio, looking at current and future products and explaining the problems being addressed.

STANAG 5066 Ed5 Proposed Additions

This whitepaper proposes a number of additions that can be made to STANAG 5066 during the next edition.

STANAG 5066 Ed4

This whitepaper provides an overview of the change brought in with Ed4 of STANAG 5066, a NATO standard protocol for data applications over HF Radio networks.

STANAG 5066 Application Protocol Series

STANAG 5066 is a NATO Standard providing a link level service for HF Radio, the latest version is Edition 4 of May 2022. The S5066-APP series of documents sets out protocol specifications that operate over STANAG 5066 and communicate with STANAG 5066 servers using the SIS protocol. These protocols provide value add to the core STANAG 5066 service.

STANAG 5066: The Standard for Data Applications over HF Radio

STANAG 5066 is a NATO specification for running data applications over HF Radio. STANAG 5066 operates over an HF modem, and provides an interface for data applications to use and share an HF modem. It provides core data link services to enable applications to operate efficiently over HF radio, and specifies a protocol that enables a clean separation between applications and modem/radio level. This paper describes STANAG 5066, and shows why it is key to deploying applications over HF Radio.

Supporting Mobile Unit mobility over multiple HF Networks using Icon-Topo

HF networks provide Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) coverage for thousands of miles, but a single HF network does not give global coverage. In order to provide communication between ground systems and Mobile Units (MUs) over a larger range, co-ordination between HF Networks is necessary.

This whitepaper looks at what is needed to provide this mobility and how Isode’s Icon-Topo product provides this.

Wireless Token Ring Protocol (WTRP)

This whitepaper looks at the Wireless Token Ring Protocol (WTRP) specified in Annex L of STANAG 5066 to support multi-node communication with HF Radio. It gives a high level overview of the protocol, how it works, and scenarios where it is most appropriate, particularly Naval task groups.

It looks at how WTRP works in a deployment, tying this to the WTRP implementation in Isode’s Icon-5066 product.

Red/Black Overview

This whitepaper gives an in-depth overview of Red/Black, which is a new Isode product that monitors and controls devices and servers, with a particular focus on HF Radio systems.

HF Circuits: Automation & Evolution with STANAG 5066

Configuration and management of HF Radio systems commonly uses the term of “HF Circuit” which reflect an active sequence of components from application to antenna. For a small integrated system, this might simply be choosing between voice and data application to use. For larger systems, there can be a choice of many components, leading to a manual choice of setting up the circuit before it can be used.

This paper is aimed at those planning HF systems, and those wishing to understand how STANAG 5066 has impacted the design of such systems, particularly large shore systems.

Measuring and Analysing HF-PEP for TCP communication and Web Browsing over HF

"HF-PEP: STANAG 5066 TCP Performance Enhancing Proxy Protocol" specifies a new protocol for efficiently running TCP over HF. This paper gives an overview of the requirements for this protocol and provides performance measurements and analysis. The paper then looks at Web Browsing over HF, which is seen as a critical family of services operating over TCP. Measurements and notes on deployment are provided.

STANAG 5066, STANAG 5070, and how to get a single HF Link Protocol

STANAG 5066 is the NATO standard for link level over HF. Thales/French MoD have proposed STANAG 5070 a new link level standard derived in part from STANAG 5066. Having multiple standards for the same purpose (or overlapping purposes) is generally undesirable for users, nations and vendors. This paper considers how to converge ongoing activity onto a single standard.

Using IP Crypto over HF

This whitepaper describes an approach to protect data using IP Crypto over HF communication. The approach described in this document is formally set out in the STANAG 5066 Application Protocol Series.

Measuring and Analysing STANAG 5066 F.12 IP Client

STANAG 5066 Annex F Section 12 defines an IP Client specification. This is the only mandatory element of Annex F, giving a clear implication that this is seen as a preferred mechanism for supporting applications running over HF. This whitepaper looks at requirements for IP applications over HF. It then analyses the F.12 IP protocol specification. Then a set of measurements are reported on using a pre-release version of Isode’s Icon-PEP product. Finally, overall analysis and recommendations to NATO are made. While the F.12 specification has some utility, this analysis suggests that it is a sub-optimal approach for general provision of IP services over HF.

Measurements of S5069 and S4539 waveforms with varying interleavers over a Channel Simulator

This whitepaper describes measurements of HF Modem transmissions over a channel simulator using Collins modems and simulator. It investigates the impact of varying Interleaver for STANAG 4539 and STANAG 5069 waveforms. These measurements indicate significant benefits for longer Interleavers.

Measuring Performance of Messaging Protocols for HF Radio

This white paper shares measurements of performance of selected HF Messaging Protocols: ACP 142, CFTP and SLEP. These protocols and other messaging protocols are described in the companion white paper Messaging Protocols for HF Radio. Optimizing throughput over HF is the key challenge for bulk protocols such as messaging. The primary measurements in this paper look at throughput for vary link speeds, error rates and message sizes, using Isode’s STANAG 5066 and messaging products. Some latency measurements are also made.

Messaging Protocols for HF Radio

This white paper looks at different messaging protocols for use over HF Radio. HF Radio has awkward operational characteristics. It is an unreliable and highly variable channel. In order to provide good messaging communications, specialized messaging protocols are necessary. Standard messaging protocols are unsuitable.

Reducing Turnaround Times in STANAG 5066

Turnaround time in STANAG 5066 systems is generally measured in seconds or tens of seconds. This significantly impacts performance and makes it impossible to optimize for both throughput and latency. This paper examines why operational turnaround is slow and shows how it can be reduced to 150-200 milliseconds.

TDMA vs. Token Ring (Annex L) for STANAG 5066

Token Ring and TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) are the primary choices for enabling multiple nodes to share an HF link with high utilization. Token Ring has been standardized as Annex L of STANAG 5066, and there is a placeholder in Annex M for TDMA. This paper analyses the relative merits of TDMA and Token Ring. It concludes that Token Ring is the better approach for HF, and that current NATO standardization effort should be directed towards improving Token Ring operation rather than adding a new TDMA standard.

STANAG 5066 Update Plan

NATO is putting in place a Program of Work to update STANAG 5066, this whitepaper sets out Isode’s thinking on what the plan should be. Much of this is referencing and collecting previous material into a single location. The goal is to help develop a good plan for STANAG 5066. The items described in the core of this document are made as strong recommendations for changes that are seen as straightforward and low risk. Isode believes that change to the Crypto Interface and TDMA should also be considered.

STANAG 5066 Extension Protocol Series

STANAG 5066 is a NATO Standard providing a link level service for HF Radio, the latest version is Edition 3 of December 2010. There are a number of issues with the current specification, particularly in relation to its use with the new Wideband HF (WBHF) specifications. NATO is aware of the need to update STANAG 5066 and has expressed intention to do so. The S5066-EP document series is intended to address the open issues prior to an official update and provides a set of extensions that can be used in conjunction with STANAG 5066 edition 3. The intent is that vendors and those procuring systems can reference these specifications, prior to this capability being available to NATO.

Measurements of Skywave HF Radio Intermediate Term Variation and Implications for Optimizing Link Performance

This whitepaper describes the results of Over The Air (OTA) HF Radio Skywave tests looking at the effects of Intermediate Term Variation (ITV), and considers how these results can be used to improve the performance of applications running over HF Radio. The tests were performed in conjunction with Rockwell Collins using both narrow band and wideband HF. The results were initially reported in a paper presented at the HF Industries Association (HFIA) meeting in Portsmouth in September 2014..

Optimising STANAG 5066 Parameter Settings for HF and WBHF

When using STANAG 5066 to communicate over HF Radio and Wide Band HF (WBHF), transmit speed and other parameters can be modified to optimize performance. This paper describes ongoing Isode research on possible new approaches to give better performance for traditional and modern applications.

Performance Measurements of Application using IP over HF Radio

This paper sets out the results of measurements made when running applications and layer protocols to support applications over IP via HF Radio using STANAG 5066. The goal of this work was to get a quantitative measure of the performance impact of using applications running over IP over HF Radio in comparison with applications running directly over specialized HF Radio protocols. This paper concludes that the performance impact of using IP is massive, with small message latency increase from at typical value of 6-20 seconds using applications optimized for HF to a smallest measured value of 89 seconds when using IP.

STANAG 5066 Performance Measurements over HF Radio

This whitepaper sets out the results of measurements done by Isode of STANAG 5066 over military HF Modems and emulated HF Radio. These test show that good line utilization can be achieved (83-94 %) for speeds ranging from 75 bits/second to 9600 bits/second. To achieve this, care must be taken with how the application uses STANAG 5066. The characteristics of HF Radio are unique, with implications on all of the higher layers and applications. This paper gives useful information to those building applications for HF Radio and for those deploying such applications.