Open Research Institute has been invited to present at the IEEE P1954 working group meeting on April 8th. Our topic: how to build an open source reference implementation for the emerging standard on self-organizing, spectrum-agile UAV communications.
What is IEEE P1954?
IEEE P1954 defines architecture and protocols that allow unmanned aerial vehicles to automatically form networks, dynamically access available spectrum, and coordinate communications without centralized infrastructure. Think of it as giving drones the ability to self-organize into mesh networks while intelligently sharing radio spectrum. These are critical capabilities for search and rescue, disaster response, infrastructure inspection, and beyond.
The standard is deliberately technology-agnostic. It specifies what UAV communication systems need to do, not how to build them. That’s where reference implementations come in.
Why Open Source Matters Here
Standards without working implementations remain academic exercises. An open source reference design serves multiple purposes
Experimentation platform: Researchers and developers can test ideas against a working baseline
Conformance validation: Implementers can verify their systems behave correctly
Lowered barriers: Smaller players can participate without building everything from scratch
Vendor neutrality: No single company controls the reference, aligning with the standard’s technology-agnostic philosophy
What ORI Brings to the Table
ORI’s existing work maps remarkably well onto P1954’s architecture. The standard envisions two distinct communication tiers:
Command & Control (C2): Safety-critical links requiring high reliability, low latency, and modest data rates
Payload: High-throughput channels for video and sensor data where best-effort delivery is acceptable
Our Opulent Voice protocol (MSK/CPFSK, constant envelope, narrowband) is designed for exactly the reliability-first requirements of C2 links. Our Neptune OFDM work addresses the high-throughput payload tier. Both have FPGA implementations in progress.
The standard also includes a SHALL-level requirement that UAVs “embed radio equipment such as software defined radios”. This is precisely our domain.
The Path Forward
We’re proposing to bring implementable chunks of P1954 into ORI repositories as open source FPGA and general-purpose processor designs. This isn’t about implementing the entire standard overnight. It’s about identifying the pieces most amenable to open source development and building momentum from there.
The April 16th meeting is our opportunity to discuss this approach with the working group and align our efforts with their priorities.
Get Involved
If you’re interested then this is an opportunity to contribute to an emerging international standard from the ground floor. Watch for updates on our mailing lists and repositories.