DECT NR+ - The first non-cellular 5G standard worldwide
DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) was introduced in 1992 and launched a year later. Today, DECT is primarily recognized as a standard for cordless telephony and smart home devices and is overseen by ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute), an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to standardization in the field of information and communication technologies. The frequency is now also becoming attractive for a wide range of applications.
DECT was originally developed for fast roaming between networked base stations. In addition to cordless phones that communicate with a landline base station, heating valves, sockets, or light switches can also establish a wireless connection to certain routers thanks to ULE with HAN-FUN standards based on DECT technology.
Over the years, DECT has evolved with several new variants and new audio codecs. Almost 30 years later, DECT-2020 NR was approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the IMT-2020 (= 5G) standard. The new protocol is now called NR+ (New Radio Plus) by the DECT Forum.
Nordic Semiconductor is currently the only supplier on the market that supports the DECT NR+ protocol and already offers its own DECT NR+ compatible modules. The mesh software is provided by the Finnish third-party Wirepas and the audio software is provided by Lynq.
Nordic Semiconductor currently offers three DECT NR+ enabled products in the nRF91 series: nRF9161 SiP, nRF9151 SiP, and nRF9131 mini SiP.
All three modules are equipped with a powerful ARM Cortex-M33 processor that handles the communication protocol and customer application processing, eliminating the need for additional microcontrollers in the end devices. To provide the best possible and most energy-efficient communication for its application, all the modules support LTE-M, NB-IoT, and GNSS positioning in addition to DECT NR+. All three variants are nearly identical in terms of their functionality. However, there are minor differences between the modules do exist: Compared to its predecessor (nRF9161), the nRF9151 has a 20 percent smaller footprint. It also supports an additional power class 5 with 20 dBm output power. In contrast, the nRF9131 is better suited for high-volume cellular IoT applications that require individual certification, which can be more costly for customers. Alternatively, it is specifically designed for DECT NR+ applications, which are license-free and do not rely on cellular networks at all. As a result, the nRF9151 or nRF9161 is more likely to be used for a possible cellular fallback scenario when an NR+ gateway is out of range. And by eliminating the PMIC (power management IC), the nRF9131 is much smaller than the nRF9151.
DECT NR+ Webinar:
Participate and Win!
Nordic Semiconductor is a global leader of ultra-low-power wireless technologies and a long term partner of Rutronik and is offering you the opportunity to win one of their development hardware. Participate in our advent calendar and explore the world of Power Management, Bluetooth Low Energy, Wi-Fi and Cellular IoT.
The nRF54L15 DK is the development kit for all three wireless SoC (System-on-Chip) options in the nRF54L Series. The nRF54L15 sits on the development board, while the nRF54L10 and nRF54L05 can be emulated. The affordable single-board development kit makes all features of the wireless SoC available to the developer.
The nPM1300 Evaluation Kit allows for simple evaluation and code-free configuration of the nPM1300 Power Management IC (PMIC). By connecting to the nPM PowerUP app found in nRF Connect for Desktop, all settings of the nPM1300 can easily be configured through an intuitive GUI and exported as code to be implemented in your MCUs application.
The nRF7002 DK is the development kit for the nRF7002, and nRF7001 Wi-Fi 6 Companion ICs. It contains everything needed to get started developing on a single board. The DK features an nRF5340 multiprotocol System-on-Chip (SoC) as a host processor for the nRF7002.
The Power Profiler Kit II (PPK2) is a standalone unit, which can measure and optionally supply currents all the way from sub-uA and as high as 1A on all Nordic DKs, in addition to external hardware.
The Nordic Thingy:53™ is an easy-to-use IoT prototyping platform. It makes it possible to create prototypes and proofs-of-concept without building custom hardware. The Thingy:53 is built around the nRF5340 SoC, our flagship dual-core wireless SoC. The processing power and memory size of its dual Arm Cortex-M33 processors enables it to run embedded machine learning (ML) models directly on the device.
The Nordic Thingy:91 X is a battery-operated prototyping platform for cellular IoT based on the nRF9151 System-in-Package (SiP) supporting LTE-M, NB-IoT, GNSS and NR+, and certified for global operation. It is the ideal platform for rapidly developing a prototype for any cellular IoT concept, and is especially suited for asset-tracking applications. Nordic Thingy:91 X enables location tracking using cellular (MCELL and SCELL), Wi-Fi, or GNSS, in combination with nRF Cloud Location Services.
The nRF9151 DK is an affordable, pre-certified single board development kit for evaluation and development on the nRF9151 System-in-Package (SiP) for LTE-M, NB-IoT, GNSS and DECT NR+. It has a dedicated LTE-M, NB-IoT and DECT NR+ antenna that supports a wide range of bands to operate globally.
On top of this you have the chance to win a finder from our customer Chipolo. This product is a lightweight, water-resistant item finder designed to help you find your missing valuable items.
- Chipolo ONE Spot (Apple)
- Chipolo ONE Point (Android)
Registration
Get in Touch with Us
If you haven't already, be sure to check out our social media channels!
Keep up to date with the RUTRONIK newsletter.
