Nordic Semiconductor and Wirepas have joined the DECT Forum to support the comeback of wireless technology for the Internet of Things.
The most recent DECT NR+ specification is intended for applications like smart metres, Industry 4.0, building management systems, logistics, and smart cities. DECT was first designed as a wireless standard for phones in Europe. The DECT NR+ and a Wirepas “5G Mesh” stack operating on a Nordic nRF91 SiP were demonstrated earlier this year by Wirepas and Nordic.
According to the DECT Forum, the demonstration demonstrated that the protocol is ready for usage with current hardware, and commercialised solutions are anticipated as early as the first half of 2023.
“Adding these two companies to our membership is a significant step forward in the DECT Forum’s development to supporting the new standard and establishing DECT NR+ as the technology of choice for the fast-growing global Industrial IoT market,” said Andreas Zipp, Chairman of the DECT Forum.
Jussi Numminen from Wirepas and Kristian Saether from Nordic Semiconductor have bolstered the DECT Forum Board. The Marketing, Certification, and DECT NR+ Working Groups of the DECT Forum will also include additional members from both businesses.
The new NR+ standard, which was created in close collaboration with the ETSI Technical Committee DECT, has been embraced by the DECT Forum (ETSI TC DECT). The ITU-R recognised NR+ as an IMT-2020 5G technology at the start of this year.
The world’s first non-cellular 5G wireless protocol, DECT NR+, is advertised as being capable of supporting enormous IoT at densities of one million devices per square kilometre.
It can support very large point-to-point, star, and mesh topologies and is designed for big scalable private networks for massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) and Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) applications. For decentralised applications like asset tracking, smart city, and smart energy projects, it can also join numerous distinct networks together.
Since the basic specification was released in July 2020, Nordic has played a significant role in the development of the DECT NR+ standard. Due to features incorporated into its RF protocol’s lower layers (referred to as the “stack”), the standard guarantees 99.99 percent dependability. At the time of the specification’s release, Nordic took over as the primary contributor for the physical (PHY) layer of the stack and a significant contributor for the media access (MAC) layer.
“Nordic Semiconductor is a believer in bringing the IoT to the widest audience,” says Sæther. “Our strategy is to support the IoT technologies that cater for the widest range of applications while being based on open standards and built to exacting technical specifications. DECT NR+ fits the bill perfectly.
