Get Started with DECT NR+ Now

We asked the protagonists Wirepas, Nordic Semiconductor and the DECT Forum whether developers can already work with DECT NR+ and design devices. In the interview, they reveal what is already possible and what developers and the market can expect.

?   Nordic Semiconductor and Wirepas have demonstrated the first DECT NR+ test networks – also at Embedded World 2023. Can companies and developers already design DECT NR+ end devices and applications today?

!   Lauri Piikivi: Nordic supports DECT NR+ as a modem firmware variant on the cellular SiP, nRF91-family. Development kits are readily available, and the release of DECT NR+ is aimed for end of 2023. Nordic SW implementation is the PHY layer of DECT NR+ stack, and we work together with Wirepas who provide rest of the protocol stack with their 5G meshing solution.

Customers can start developing based on the 2.4 GHz Meshing solution and application switching to 5G DECT NR+ is very easy. Together we have a ready solution that enables companies to start developing today, and switch to DECT NR+ when it is released.

!   Thomas Weisshaupt: To complement on  Nordics statement, the Standard was not “falling from heaven” – DECT NR+ is influenced by the outcome and learnings of more than 20 years research and development cumulation 10 year field proven deployments in 2,4 GHz and some Sub-GHz bands such as 865 in India, 868/870 in the Nordics and 917 in Australia with Millions of devices reliably operating in the field.

On that journey we realized that a mesh connectivity stack with a scope on coexistence, reliability and scale can be leveraged best by deploying  a standardized radio interface technology using a dedicated licence exempt spectrum. After a couple of yeard of hard work within ETSI, TC DECT has published the results of our efforts in 2021.

The second pilar for fast adoption is a facilitation of application development – Wirepas has decided to utilize the similar Software Development Kit for our DECT NR+ compliant Mesh implementation so that customers can easily start development on bullet proof APIs – early adopter can start development prior phy-layer release. The SDK and API description is publicly available on Github or in our developer portal. It is only the Binary, Support and some of our tools that come under license to which developers can sign up for already today.

?   Which semiconductor and system manufacturers support DECT NR+, or have announced that they will support DECT NR+?

!   Piikivi: Currently only Nordic and Wirepas have a public solution for DECT NR+. Standard is open, and we welcome other manufacturers to work on improving the technology and offering. The market is in very early stage, and initial customer stories are sure to pick up interest of different HW, SW and device manufacturers.

!   Weisshaupt: When looking the supply chain vulnerabilities, having multiple sourcesis key to wider adoption of the standard. With a well-known and strong partner such as Nordic Semiconductor, the Standard cannot have a better initial advocate and first mover. For sure, other players also investigate the potential of bringing a DECT NR+ SOC or an alternative MAC implementation into the market – for the moment, we are focusing on getting the first high volume implementations in the field with Nordic/Wirepas

!   Roel Ottink: We are promoting the new standard in several different ways to attract attention from companies in all parts of the value chain. The required investments in new silicon are large for the chip manufacturers but our expectation is that more of them will see that there is a business case for DECT NR+.

Everyone is invited to join the DECT Forum and be part of building the future of NR+. Certification programmes are in our scope but still need to be shaped. Further enhancements to the standard will widen the applications and improve the prospects of a profitable chip business.

?   In which industries do you currently see the greatest interest? For which markets and applications do you expect the first DECT-NR+ end devices?

!   Weisshaupt: One of the key drivers for the Standard is the IoT market with largest scale and most experience  – smart electricity metering – here we have very promising developments in India. India’s booming economy is also increasing electricity demand and need for assuring security of supply – this encourages the players in the power market to rollout more than 270 Mio smart meters in the upcoming years. Tenders are hitting the market on a nearly daily basis.

With RF Mesh in sub-GHz, we have proven very large rollouts to a very competitive cost in the Nordics (e.g., in greater Oslo more than 920.000 smart meters operate in a single mesh) that follow similar design principles on connectivity side as DECT NR+. Cellular has challenges to compete in this very cost competitive market with DECT NR+. We expect the first rollouts to hit the market in late this/early next year with significant volumes. Streetlighting and other smart grid and energy efficiency related applications are also being seen. And maybe we also see some surprises in the European markets around metering and grid-edge management.

!   Piikivi: DECT NR+ is an interesting combination of speed and low latency, on a global spectrum. The main use case is IoT, monitoring and metering solutions that Wirepas specializes in. The DECT NR+ features allow for new kinds of applications.

The low latency communications are an interesting area, where some lead customers are evaluating the technology to offer industrial automation control solutions. The operation on a global spectrum that is not the congested 2.4GHz ISM band is interesting for these industrial environments. There is also early development on audio solutions, replacing the original DECT technology or other radio technologies to achieve improved quality and data capabilities based on DECT NR+.

!   Ottink: As indicated by Wirepas, we see that the initial focus of our members is on smart metering, and this is where we expect to see the first products. We expect this will then inspire other applications in for example smart grid and smart cities.

1. Get Started with DECT NR+ Now
2. Roadmap for DECT NR+