This MIL-STD-1553 reference guide provides an explanation of each part of MIL-STD-1553B on a clause-by-clause basis. Each clause of the Standard is presented for completeness together with appropriate explanation or interpretation wherever necessary. This standard contains requirements for a digital time division command/response multiplex data bus for use in systems integration. Even with the use of this standard, differences may exist between multiplex data buses in different system applications due to particular application requirements and the designer options allowed in this standard. The system designer must recognize this fact and design the multiplex bus controller hardware and software to accommodate such differences. These designer selected options must exist to allow the necessary flexibility in the design of specific multiplex systems in order to provide for the control mechanism, architectural redundancy, degradation concept and traffic patterns peculiar to the specific application requirements.