scope:

This Handbook has been developed as a Guide in selecting standards, specifications, and handbooks related to various aspects of telecommunications. The Guide is to serve only as a convenient index and does not preclude the user's responsibility to read the actual documents selected in order to determine applicability. The Guide is intended primarily for use by acquisition managers and personnel involved in procurement of telecommunications systems and equipment. General information about documents referenced in the Handbook is specified below.

a. The Guide indexes only those standardization documents which have been adopted by the DOD and included in the Department of Defense Index of Specifications and Standards (DODISS). Such documents include North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Standardization Agreements (STANAGs), Quadripartite Standardization Agreements (QSTAGs), American National Standards Institute (ANSI) documents, Electronic Industries Association (EIA) documents, Federal Standards (FED-STDs), Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), Military Standards, Military Specifications, and Military Handbooks.

b. Other telecommunications-related documents, though not indexed, are included in the synopses portion of the Guide for information purposes. These additional documents include International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (CCITT) and International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) recommendations, and selected industry standards.

c. Additionally, Appendix B provides a listing of instructions, directives and other service/agency unique design guidance documents related to telecommunications.

d. All publication dates appearing in this Handbook were valid only at the time of writing. The reader is urged to verify publication dates and current editions and amendments of documents. To facilitate this, Federal Supply Classifications (FSCs) and DOD standardization area assignment codes have been included in the synopses of DOD adopted documents. The reader can then refer by FSC/Area to Part III of the DODISS to determine current publication dates and latest validation dates.

e. MIL-HDBK-188, Volume I, Appendix D provides some helpful information regarding obtaining standardization documents. The reader is reminded to first ascertain if the desired documentation is available through established individual command channels.

f. Due to security considerations, synopses of NATO documents are not contained in this Guide.

g. All terms employed in this Guide are used according to the definitions provided by FED-STD-1037.

h. Appendices C and D are provided for information purposes only.

a. This Guide has been assembled to provide a convenient method for obtaining an overview of standardization documents related to various telecommunications disciplines. The disciplines identified for use in this Guide are shown in TABLE I with examples illustrating each discipline.

b. Section 4 lists, by telecommunications discipline (see TABLE II), the standardization documents related to subheadings under each discipline. Those subheadings are user-oriented to facilitate locating appropriate standards, specifications, and handbooks. Section 5 contains synopses of each document listed in Section 4. The documents are listed numerically and grouped by type and origin (that is, Military Standard (MIL-STD), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), STANAG, and so forth).

c. FIGURE 1 shows how to use this Guide. After determining the appropriate discipline and subheading listed in the Table of Contents, turn to the pages indicated to find a listing of the documents related to the selected subheading. A synopsis of each document is provided in Section 5 to assist the User in selecting the documents(s) most appropriate to his concerns.