SFAFx and EMSOPackage
NEMESynth-EMSO is built on two open Sciumo standards. SFAFx extends the DoD frequency assignment format so spectrum data carries its meaning, rules and history with it. EMSOPackage puts that data in a GeoPackage with the map, the terrain and the models.
SFAFx: Extended Standard Frequency Action Format
SFAFx extends MCEB Pub 7, the format SXXI and every other DoD spectrum system already use, for distributed operations. The Pub 7 transaction stays exactly as it is, so your current SFAF exchange keeps working.
Backwards compatible
The Pub 7 transaction is untouched from 000 through 999. SFAFx records start after 999, so legacy systems read what they always have.
Nets and PACE
Which net an assignment serves, and that net's primary, alternate, contingency and emergency, in the record instead of a slide.
Time and operational state
When each assignment is in force, plus native records for operational states, observations, coordination, interference and results.
Sources and markings
Where every value came from, who entered it and when, and its IC ISM or CUI marking, rolled up to the record.
Decision sheets
The rules themselves, as decision tables a spectrum manager can read (DMN tables with S-FEEL cells): PACE triggers, priorities, compliance checks, host-nation constraints. Every node that holds them makes the same call. More on sheets.
GIS, antennas and SCMs
Geospatial data, antenna parameters and IEEE 1900.5.2 spectrum consumption models alongside the assignments.
Shared meaning
A controlled vocabulary and crosswalks to GIS, SCMs, policy and partner formats, so systems agree on what each field means.
Self-contained templates
A versioned template carries the vocabulary, context, crosswalks, transformation rules and tests needed to process an exchange, with no remote lookups. It works offline.
Repeatable transformations
Conversions are deterministic and come with their tests, so anyone can check that the same input gives the same output.
Versions and patches
Canonical ordering and Git-style versioned patches, so a team can work the same plan and see exactly what changed and who changed it.
Sealed sets
Records sent together under one hash. The other end knows it got all of them and that nothing was changed, and a node that was cut off catches up from the sets it missed.
Interference management
Standard records for reporting, tracking and resolving interference, following IEEE 1900.2.
Validation and evidence
Validation gates, provenance and replayable evidence, so every change and conversion can be inspected and repeated.
Ready for automation
Structured, machine-readable data and rules that AI, ML and automated spectrum management can work from directly.
The format
| Part | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Line encoding and allocation | How SFAFx keeps the Pub 7 transaction, where extensions begin, and how the A00–FFF space is laid out. |
| Vocabulary, context and crosswalks | The governed meaning that lets systems understand each other's data. |
| Templates, transforms and evidence | Self-contained packages and transformations you can test and verify. |
| Versioning, conformance and adoption | How versions are managed and what a conforming implementation has to do. |
| Operational state and events | Records for operational states, observations, coordination, interference and results. |
| Decision sheets | Rules as DMN decision tables carried in the set with the data (§3.7, in review). |
EMSOPackage: the GIS and EMSO data model
EMSOPackage extends OGC GeoPackage, the single-file SQLite format any GIS opens, with everything spectrum operations need. Your assignments, nets, policy, terrain and models travel together in one file instead of a spectrum database in one place and a GIS in another.
Spectrum management
SFAF and SFAFx: frequency assignments, networks and their PACE plans, with locations stored as real geometry.
Policy
Decision tables and digital signatures, so the rules arrive with the data and you can tell who issued them.
Planning
What-if and synthetic data for courses of action, exercises and rehearsal.
Link analysis
Wired and wireless links together, so you can see a network as a whole system.
EMI
Interference events following IEEE 1900.2, from the first report to resolution.
MODSIM
GIS, elevation and propagation in the package, with antenna patterns and spectrum consumption models, so terrain profiles are built right on the device.
Standards-based
Built on established spectrum and geospatial standards, so it fits with what you already have.
GIS integration
Open it in any GIS for spatial analysis and display. Metadata in TOML-LD ties rows together across tables.
Distributed model
Versioned patches let many users and sites share and update the same package.
Open standards underneath
MCEB Pub 7 and Pub 8, NTIA GMF, NATO SMADEF, IEEE 1900.2, 1900.5, 1900.5.2 and P1900.8, OGC GeoPackage and OMG DMN. Nothing in SFAFx or EMSOPackage is proprietary. The formats are open text and open SQLite, and any vendor can write a reader.
SFAFx and EMSOPackage are Sciumo standards in Draft. The roadmap shows which parts NEMESynth-EMSO already uses.
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Talk to us about SFAFx templates, EMSOPackage, interoperability with your systems, and secure spectrum data exchange for your organization.
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