ETL Systems and Amphinicy Technologies celebrate the successful demonstration of a full integrated RF-to-IP signal processing chain at the 2026 DIFI PlugFest.
PlugFest reflects the growing industry demand for open architectures, software-defined ground systems, and cloud-ready networks that enable operators to integrate best-in-class digital technologies in a vendor-agnostic way.
As a Board-level member of the DIFI Consortium, the ETL group of companies – to which Amphinicy now belongs – was strongly represented at the event, with participants attending from across its European locations.
ETL’s involvement also included administration of the PlugFest, with Simon Swift, Chair of the DIFI Specification Working Group, playing an active role in supporting the event.
The combined ETL and Amphinicy demonstration highlighted a complete RF-to-IP workflow, with signals converted by ETL’s edge digitiser then channelised and processed by the Blink software modem. The demo showcased successful interoperation with a significant number of other vendors’ equipment, reinforcing the core objective of enabling an open, standards-based ecosystem for the virtualised ground segment.
This capability is critical as satellite operators and government-backed connectivity programmes increasingly explore multi-orbit architectures, which require greater flexibility, interoperability, and resilience than traditional single-orbit networks.
As part of the event, the combined team achieved trial certification of the DIFI Core Profile, successfully receiving and processing DIFI-compliant streams from over 30 DIFI sources.
The Blink modem also delivered particularly strong results, demonstrating DVB-S2 demodulation and decoding, and offering standout performance in the DIFI 600 high-rate tests, successfully transmitted at 250 Mbaud.
The Amphinicy team also achieved successful channel-splitting tests, including extracting a 10 Mbaud channel from a 600 MS/s input, with hours of continuous clean operation and successful UDP streaming.
“As satellite networks continue to evolve towards a full-virtualised, software-defined ground segment, interoperability is key,” said Simon. “This successful collaboration between ETL and Amphinicy, which delivered such great success during the live demonstrations, illustrates how open standards can accelerate innovation and give operators greater choice when designing next-generation networks.”
“The DIFI Plugfest is a multi-day event packed with hands-on, proper engineering work carried out by teams representing some of the most prominent companies in ground systems for the space industry,” added Tomislav Nakić-Alfirević, Head of Technology (Blink) at Amphinicy.
“We are delighted to see such overwhelmingly positive standards compliance and performance test results at our first PlugFest, all the more because both the Blink modem and the Blink channeliser were used. For Blink customers, this means peace of mind: Blink will work reliably with their ground equipment if it talks DIFI, and do so at speed.”
Beyond the notable technical achievements, PlugFest provided a valuable opportunity for collaboration and knowledge-sharing across the industry. More than ever before, this year’s event showcased an enthusiasm and genuine drive for cooperation across organisations. This successful demonstration reflects ETL and Amphinicy Technologies’ commitment to both strengthening the DIFI ecosystem and advancing interoperable technologies for modern SATCOM networks and digital ground stations.
