A small step in green technology research, a giant leap for DECT

Transcription

1 A small step in green technology research, a giant leap for DECT DECT Ultra Low Energy Abstract:- DECT is a continuously evolving technology. The business whitepaper expounds upon the new Ultra Low Energy (ULE) variant of DECT. ULE technology presents significant growth opportunities with DECT. Four particular segments for growth within existing and new markets are identified. DECT ULE applications within each of these segments as well as related sub-segments are discussed. Feature addition to legacy DECT products in addition to new stand-alone ULE applications is presented. While the consumer/ end-user stand to benefit from new and unique services at affordable prices, the operators/service providers are able to differentiate their bundled value offering through existing/installed base of gateways at customer premises.

2 Contents Executive Summary...1 A Scenario Introduction Preface Scope Growth Opportunities Trends in the Wireless Markets Future Growth Areas & Segments Applications & USPs Unique Selling Points of DECT Unique Selling Points of DECT ULE Pendant Phone & Tele care Applications (HAN+BAN) Voice Door & Security Applications (HAN) Home Automation & Enterprise Automation (HAN & EAN) Home Automation (HAN) Enterprise Automation (EAN) Smart Metering (HAN+NAN)... 9 Other application areas...10 GSM/ULE Dual Mode Mobile Phones Conclusion...11 List of Abbreviations Appendices Appendix A: ULE Battery Profile Appendix B: DECT ULE Applications Roadmap Appendix C: Pendant Phone Application Appendix D: Voice Door Application Appendix E: Fire Alert Application Appendix F: Technology Comparison Matrix (Low Power Technologies) Chapter:

3 Executive Summary Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) technology was launched in 1987 and has since then developed into one of the most reliable and flexible digital radio access standard for cordless communication. DECT is installed in over 245 million households worldwide 1 and feature in more than 80 million new systems for the home sold annually. DECT has been a continuously evolving technology and new versions of the core technology such as Cordless Advanced Technology - Internet & Quality (CAT- iq version 1, 2 etc.) has already surfaced. It has added features such as HD voice, VOIP and other internet based services over the standard DECT protocol. This whitepaper presents the latest edition DECT Ultra Low Energy a green communication technology. DECT ULE is based on the proven and established DECT standard. Therefore, the ULE benefits from years of industry support and the DECT Forum has formed a DECT ULE working group to improve the time- to- market of this technology. A consortium of the frontrunner companies involved with ULE has been awarded the Eurostar funding which would also speed up standardization and improve time- to- market. The award of the market- oriented R&D fund by EU is a testimonial to the potential of this technology. ULE has all the traditional strengths of DECT (interference free, license free, security, authentication, long range, ready internet etc). With re- designed hardware and software components DECT ULE is optimized for low data rate application/cat- iq data service profiles. It can also handle voice traffic by switching to the CAT- iq voice profile and still maintain a good Quality of Service (which is a unique feature of ULE compared to other low power wireless standards). The low energy (ULE) version positions DECT in new and rapidly growing market segments beyond the traditional DECT telephony market, such as the wireless Machine- to- Machine (M2M) market a rapidly growing segment. 1 The Global Consumer Cordless Telephony Market; MZA, July 2009

4 A Scenario A day in the life of a family with connected smart home (Mathis & Sara live with their baby Julie) 7.00: The alarm rings and Mathis is the first one out of bed. He walks into a nice warm bathroom to shave. The home server is synchronized to the alarm clock and it has turned on the heating in the bathroom 10 minutes earlier. It plays one of his favorite morning tunes while he takes a shower. The music system, heating etc. in the relevant room is turned off automatically once he leaves. 7.30: Sara enters the kitchen and starts to prepare breakfast. The home server turns on The Voice which is her favorite radio station, but the volume is kept low as the system knows that Julie is still asleep. Mathis works as an investment banker. The home server knows that he likes to be updated about the stock market. It routes the information to a small screen near the breakfast table : Sara is in the utility room filling the washing machine. Suddenly the baby alarm is indicating that Julie is awake and crying. Furthermore she needs a diaper change. She rushes to Julie s room to look after her when the door bell rings. She cannot leave Julie at the moment so she picks the cordless handset in the room which can connect to the entry phone at their main door. She can easily recognize Trine s (their neighbor) voice at the other end of the line. Sara presses a button on the handset which unlocks the door and instructs Trine to come directly to Julie s room. (Several other applications that fall within this typical scenario setting is discussed in the whitepaper) Chapter:

5 1 Introduction The scenario above provides a snapshot of certain innovative data and voice triple play services that can be provided through a residential gateway. Triple play concerns data, telephony and media. The applications described above are easily integrated into not only the new homes but can also apply to retrofit smart homes where standardized solutions are extremely important. Any technology that has good existing installed base become worth considering for integrated connected home services. One such technology is DECT. However, for triple play offerings that are dependent on light data services there is an additional need for a low power version. Dedicated effort within low energy research has provided such a technology today called Ultra Low Energy (ULE). 1.1 Preface DECT is particularly dominant in Europe but has now penetrated across most parts of the world (see Figure 1 below). The large installed base of DECT systems worldwide presents unprecedented opportunities for the ULE technology. The paper discusses, Where (the Segments), How (the USPs) and What (the Applications) of DECT ULE are: Where will the growth opportunities lie? - Growth segments within new/existing markets are identified. How would such opportunities be facilitated? - The USPs of DECT ULE that upholds the opportunities is highlighted. What new applications can be supported by DECT ULE? - The trends in wireless that will benefit from this are conversed. 1.2 Scope The applications and market opportunities discussed in this whitepaper are of relevance to not only current vendors already in the DECT business but any vendor who can cater their own market segments (home automation, tele- health, smart meter etc.) with the DECT technology. The value-added services that can be provided through a residential gateway are primarily covered in this article. Enterprise applications are also possible but detailed discussions on the same are out of scope. The article rather seeks to discuss the broad range of residential ULE based applications that are of interest to business development experts and product managers. Exhaustive articulation of a particular product feature/ application is out of scope for this paper (they will be covered by separate articles). Figure 1: DECT Worldwide Map (source: DECT Forum Web) Chapter: Introduction

6 2 Growth Opportunities Where will the DECT ULE enable growth? Until now, DECT technology has primarily served the cordless telephony market, which forms the traditional DECT market. DECT continues to serve this market today to its full capacity. The strong presence of DECT in the consumer homes through telephony market has resulted in a huge installed base of residential DECT gateways. Taking advantage of this fact, new growth opportunities can be found for DECT even in the non-telephony market segments within the residential sector. DECT is still well positioned to serve its traditional/present market (i.e. cordless telephony) and has been gaining a higher degree of market share within this market (shown in figure below). However, the technical reliability and installed base of DECT makes it equally well positioned to serve unconventional but other growing market segments as well. Rela%ve Increase in DECT Market Share (Residen%al Cordless) % Other Digital Market DECT Market Analogue Market Figure 2: Positive trend in market share increase of DECT technology # Other Digital market consist of predominantly 2.4 GHz & 5.4 GHz technologies Figure 2 indicates that the DECT market share with respect to the competing technologies within the existing market is still increasing. This trend is attributed to the technical benefits and cost evolution of the DECT technology with respect to its competitors. The market for robust, interference free wireless networking in the home has high growth potential, and allows DECT to continue the success beyond voice only applications. DECT ULE can easily piggyback upon the already existing installed base of DECT and expand upon it further with several new applications. Chapter: Growth Opportunities

7 2.1 Trends in the Wireless Markets Within any market sector, certain segments saturate while other new segments emerge. In the wireless markets today, Machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless communications is an emerging sector. The M2M sector includes a broad range of applications and sub-segments. On considering the European wireless M2M market, it was found that the sector is expected to show excellent growth (Compound Annual Growth Rate, CAGR of 33%) 2 70 European Wireless M2M Market No. Of M2M conneccons ExponenCell(No. Of M2M conneccons) CAGR = 33% (exponen%al growth) Figure 3: European M2M Market Growth DECT/CAT-iq will be optimised to address this new and emerging M2M market or certain applicable sub-segments within the M2M market. The DECT ULE variant allows DECT to serve this market. A strong market development strategy will position DECT in new growing segments where the technology has much to offer while the DECT ULE product vendors find new revenue streams. What business development opportunities are necessary to consider for DECT? What would be the future areas and unique segments for further growth? 2 The European Wireless M2M Market, Berg Insight, 2009 Chapter: Growth Opportunities

8 2.2 Future Growth Areas & Segments Although the existing market offers room for growth, the emerging markets hold promise of an even better future. The following figure shows the Ansoff matrix and it summarizes some of the options available to pursue growth for the DECT technology. Markets Existing New Products Existing Market Penetration Projects Residential cordless (increase market share) - Focus: NA market SME/Enterprise VOIP Market Development Projects Voice entry phone (security) GSM/ULE dual mode mobile phone Asian Market New Product Development Projects Fixed line SMS IM support, presence etc. Light browsing services #3 Diversification Projects Pendant phone (assisted living) Smart metering Home/Office automation Most of the new market development and diversification projects above fall within the domain of wireless M2M market (which Berg Insight research show) offers good potential at present and excellent growth prospects in the future. The following are the market segments with some examples of applications within each segment where future growth opportunities exist for DECT: 1. Assisted Living & Tele care a. Pendant phone b. Health/activity monitoring devices 2. Safety & Security a. Voice entry phone b. Sensor module (smoke detectors & white goods) 3. Energy & Utilities a. Home Automation b. Enterprise Automation c. Smart metering 4. Other application segments/ niche M2M applications a. Smart Locate b. Smart Remind & similar M2M applications The Machine-2-Machine (M2M) segment is a rapidly emerging market (as discussed above). Same applies for markets such as Tele care. Besides the above, there is also the opportunity for DECT to move into the mainstream mobile phones market with the GSM/ULE dual mode phones. 3 DECT Forum: CAT-iq White Paper Part 2 Data Services (#3 Please refer this paper for full description of the services) Chapter: Growth Opportunities

9 3 Applications & USPs How is the growth opportunities facilitated? What are the applications that can be supported? The section describes the Unique Selling Points (USPs) of DECT/ULE and typical new applications of ULE. The USPs of DECT can now be exploited and developed for new market segments. The opportunities are based upon both external market drivers and internal capabilities (i.e. the technological advancements within the DECT world that seek to address the external market needs) Unique Selling Points of DECT Established technology: DECT was launched in 1987 and specified by ETSI in It is today a proven and matured technology established worldwide (see EN ) Open Standard & Multiple Suppliers: These factors ensure a healthy competitive market and low price chipsets from semiconductor vendors (see EN ) Interference Free & License Free: DECT operates in a dedicated frequency band (no interference issues commonly found in crowded ISM band, and no need to purchase license). Interoperability: Industry certification covering Radio, Protocol, and Audio aspects Security and Authentication: DECT has excellent security and authentication features Range and building penetration: DECT achieves a very long range ( meters) Voice & Media: Support for voice profiles with high QoS and wideband voice (CAT-iq) Ease of Installation/Commissioning: Uses one-hop star network topology covering whole residential space with automatic & continuous, secure and simple frequency planning. Over time DECT has evolved into Cordless Advanced Technology internet and quality (CAT-iq) which allows for double play (i.e. integration of telephony with internet services). IMS Research predicts that the DECT/CAT-iq penetration in Internet Access Devices (IADs) will reach 31% by The increasing penetration of DECT in IADs open the door for new segments that can piggy back upon the traditional strengths of DECT but utilize the developments in the latest DECT ULE Unique Selling Points of DECT ULE Installed base & low-cost due to mass market: DECT has already been sold in millions of devices and the ULE devices are using exactly the same core technology Low energy consumption: Standby current in the range of microamperes which effectively means years of battery lifetime on standard batteries (see Appendix A battery life profile) Low latency: ULE offer low latency for sensor applications that need fast feedback Superior range: The DECT maximum transmitted power is maintained to achieve the range performance needed for applications like Wireless Local Loop setup. Backwards compatibility: Interoperability with legacy DECT products allows the possibilities for combining sensor networks (M2M) with DECT voice & media applications, and exploiting the access to outside world (Internet, VoIP). With the new added capabilities several new applications (see Appendix B an applications roadmap) particularly within emerging market segments open up for the proven DECT technology. DECT technology can no longer be overlooked for M2M related applications. Discussed below is the associated applications and the competitive advantage with DECT ULE. 4 Link to the ETSI standards page: 5 The Worldwide Market for DECT and CAT-iq in Residential Gateways; IMS Research, 2008 Chapter: Applications & USPs

10 3.2 Pendant Phone & Tele care Applications (HAN+BAN) This category falls primarily within the Home Area Network (HAN) but certain medical devices need to operate in the Body Area Network (BAN) as well. Alarm buttons and pendant are widely available today. A pendant is a body worn device primarily for the elderly population who needs to summon assistance should an emergency situation arise, such as a falling accident. However, these pendants can usually send an alarm message only. Because of stringent form factor requirements and battery capacity most pendants cannot provide a two way interactive voice communication. The ones which do so with standardized solutions are usually bulky and cumbersome as it uses traditional DECT. The form-factor and power consumption of such devices can be significantly improved with the ULE. A pendant phone is a body worn telephone which is very useful during emergencies (see Appendix C for illustration of the application). What competitive advantage does DECT ULE offer? A telephone (voice) at extremely small form factor but with enhanced battery life Unique sleep mode current for frequently inactive devices such as the pendant DECT ULE lends itself to other body worn activity tracking and health monitoring devices that would also find it useful to utilize the DECT infrastructure and ULE battery life advantages. The IP connectivity (CAT-iq) can be utilized to report vital patient statistics, such as heart-rate, to a central system using the DECT radio over gateways. 3.3 Voice Door & Security Applications (HAN) The Voice door (illustrated in Appendix D) is another application that exploits the voice+m2m capabilities of ULE technology. A DECT/ULE node exists at the entrance/main door to a building. A voice path is established between the residents inside the building and the visitor who can authenticate himself/herself through voice/video. Such solutions already exist in the market. DECT ULE nodes if used for this communication over standard DECT nodes would be able to provide better battery life, form factor and hence improve the attractiveness of the product in the market.. The residents are able to use one of the DECT phones within the house and also body worn devices that have a ULE node (such as a pendant phone or specialized wrist watches) to verify and unlock the main door. What competitive advantage does DECT ULE offer for security systems? Excellent security and authentication features of DECT built in the protocol Wireless nodes with voice capability and an excellent battery life. Above feature easily added to DECT handsets (which can be carried around the house) Low cost modules for sensor nodes * * Due to the years of industry support, and high volume components, the DECT hardware is cost competitive. The ULE version enables DECT to be integrated into any fix-and-forget autonomous nodes/wireless sensors such as smoke alarms (Appendix E), etc. which can now have good battery life. Chapter: Applications & USPs

11 3.4 Home Automation & Enterprise Automation (HAN & EAN) Due to years of battery life capacity the ULE technology can now be used in autonomous sensor applications within HAN or Enterprise Area Network (EAN) for building automation. It includes all wireless sensor dependant control applications in the home/office [i.e. control of lights, blinds, Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC)] Home Automation (HAN) Although a relatively smaller market, but is a very fast growing one at CAGR of 52% ( ) 6. What competitive advantage does DECT ULE offer? Ease of integration: Large installed base of DECT gateways, or USB dongle based DECT addition to existing gateways Reduced infrastructure cost and risks: DECT ULE offers excellent range (above 100m indoors), thus removing the need for dedicated repeaters and the associated liabilities Comparable/better battery life to other wireless M2M technologies for sensor node applications Ease of Installation (pairing, network topology, no frequency planning, range) Enterprise Automation (EAN) DECT is mainstream enterprise wireless technology. It makes sense to utilize the existing DECT network for applications such as office building automation. Other application profiles include adding Real Time Location Tracking (RTLS) capability to DECT handsets. This would be extremely useful for hospital s resource management (eg. locate where the nearest nurse is, whenever an emergency situation arises). DECT ULE tags can also be used for medical equipment tracking. What competitive advantage does DECT ULE offer? Utilisation of existing enterprise infrastructure Scalability: Use of dedicated frequency band ensures low maintenance and upgrading costs (appendix F), also higher location reliability for RTLS applications. DECT ULE tags enable longer tag battery life There is a lot of experience in the installation of networks for RF coverage of large buildings and sites based on the DECT technology. 3.5 Smart Metering (HAN+NAN) The current Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solutions in the field are either mobile backhaul (GPRS/CDMA) or Power Line Communication (PLC) based. There are inherent problems of using a mobile network because of the grey and black spots in mobile coverage. Service/Utility Providers need 100% coverage not 98% (as we cannot move a smart meter around the house to catch stronger signal like we do with our mobile phones!). The PLC network suffers from interference issues from electronic devices etc. that are always present in the house. ULE in Wireless Local Loops (WLL) can be used to connect the Home Area Network (HAN) to the Neighborhood Area Network (NAN) which can in turn connect to the Wide Area Network (WAN). 6 WSN for Smart Homes, a Market Dynamics Report, On World Research, 2008 Chapter: Applications & USPs

12 What competitive advantage does DECT ULE offer? ULE smart meters easily integrated in the network with installed base of DECT gateways AMI can also be built by utilizing the mobile backhaul in balance with DECT data concentrators for the NAN Dedicated interference free frequency band ( MHz) Low cost of ownership no licenses for frequency bands Easy to set up anywhere: Full coverage without network planning Graphical view of home s energy consumption profile on DECT handsets Other application areas GSM/ULE Dual Mode Mobile Phones A so-called quadruple play service is now emerging beyond the triple play. It integrates mobility as well, often by supporting dual-mode GSM plus WiFi cell phones that shift from GSM to WiFi when they come in range of a home wired for the triple play service. Typical services of this kind, such as home calling zone, allow the caller to pay for time spent outside the home range on the GSM plan and the calls in home range being routed over the IP network and paid at a flat rate per month charged by telecom operators. Power efficient CAT-iq ULE on cell phones would allow telecom operators to offer a better quadruple play service than WiFi cell phones which tend to consume heavy battery. No interruption or authorization for the handover is required with ULE - it can take place automatically as many times as the caller enters or leaves the DECT gateway zone (home calling zone). This could be an important application of DECT which acts as an enabler to enter the mobile phones market. The scenario in the beginning of this article highlights some unique consumer benefits that can be enabled today by ubiquitous computing technologies. Any device with an embedded DECT ULE module can be monitored and tracked within the home. Adding a Smart Locate button to a DECT gateway would let users to easily locate tagged items (see scenario below). The living/bed room for instance is full of small portable devices such as remote controls for TV, music system, etc. and our personal belongings such as wallets, hand bags and so on. If these objects are ULE enabled with a buzzer, then they can be easily found by ringing them just like people ring their own cell phones when it cannot be found in the house. Other residential gateway based services include Smart Remind, i.e. reminding the user that he/she is leaving behind something important in the house (eg. USB stick/important files before leaving for a meeting or passport/tickets while leaving for the airport). The gateway can also indicate when the kids are home, etc. What competitive advantage does DECT ULE offer? Presence of DECT in a large number of consumer gateways ULE nodes can be put in small form factor devices that has strict battery life requirements Scenario 6.50: Mathis is about to leave the house for the airport as he has a meeting with one of his clients in Stockholm. The home server reminds Mathis that his umbrella is not in the briefcase and that it is predicted to rain when he arrives in Sweden. He quickly collects the umbrella before leaving. 7.45: Sara is in a hurry to leave for work but she cannot find her house keys. She is almost sure she put them on the shelf the day before, but where are they now? She uses the Smart Locate button on her residential gateway. The keys beep to reveal where they are. They were actually inside her handbag! Chapter: Applications & USPs

13 4 Conclusion DECT is a robust and reliable technology for wireless networking. ULE edition enables novel applications that take DECT into new market segments. DECT ULE being based upon the same core technology includes all the advantages/usps of standard DECT. The ULE leverage upon the existing DECT installed base, which means no new infrastructure is required. It also offers the advantages of providing voice services at low power over and above data only services (which is a unique feature for the ULE). Another major advantage with DECT ULE is the use of the reserved frequency band that is allocated to DECT. DECT has superior range performance in comparison with ISM based alternatives and does not require mesh networking to achieve house wide coverage. There is an inherent susceptibility to interference from sources commonly found in a residential complex/enterprise building, especially those that operate in the crowded ISM band. The result of operating within/ expanding inside a more crowded frequency band imply higher associated maintenance costs due to required re- calibrations/ re- tuning of the systems for any expansion. DECT does not use the ISM band a distinct advantage. Furthermore, as DECT is a mature technology with availability of high volume off- the- shelf components, a DECT ULE chip has a low BOM and is very cost competitive. It is important however to view the low power ULE version as a complementary technology (rather than being competing technology) to other wireless low power alternatives such as Zigbee, Zwave etc. (see comparison chart in Appendix F). A single technology cannot fit in and fulfill the requirements of each and every M2M application profiles. However it can tick almost all the boxes for some particular applications. A big European Operator talking about one such M2M application comments, The ULE just ticks all the boxes! We have been searching for this technology, testing many of the M2M solutions out there but NONE of them reaches the same level of confidence. This is great! We really look forward to this addition to DECT! List of Abbreviations DECT: Digitally Enhanced Cordless Telephony CAT-iq: Cordless Advanced Telephony (Internet & Quality) ULE: Ultra Low Energy ETSI: European Telecommunications Standards Institute HD Voice: High Definition (wideband) Audio/Voice VOIP: Voice over Internet Protocol M2M Communication: Machine-to-Machine Communications IADs: Internet Access Devices CAGR: Compound Annual Growth Rate EU & NA Markets: European Union & North American Markets BAN: Body Area Network EAN: Enterprise Area Network NAN: Neighbourhood Area Network HAN: Home Area Network WAN: Wide Area Network Chapter: Conclusion

14 5 Appendices 5.1 Appendix A: ULE Battery Profile The ULE power consumption depends on the operational mode of the ULE device. The synchronous (locked mode) consists of sleep time ~1 20s. In the synchronous mode the ULE node autonomously communicates with the base every x seconds (x= 1-20 s). Following figure shows a typical synchronous mode operation: In the asynchronous (unlocked mode), a sleep period of seconds to days is possible. Mode Sleep time Battery Lasts* Asynchronous (unlocked) 5-6 mins. ~ 10 yrs Asynchronous (unlocked) 2½ mins. ~ 5 yrs Synchronous (locked) 20 second ~ 4yrs *Note: Battery lifetime example is given with 2xAA cells. 2xAAA or coin cells will also be applicable for certain applications. Graph below shows the ULE power consumption profile (estimated, in years). Conclusion on ULE device battery life: A typical ULE-sensor application such as smoke detector can last for years working in the event driven unlocked mode. A home automation application such as smart lighting button could achieve above 10 years of battery life with a dedicated battery for ULE chip where the device on average wakes up every 5-6 minutes. Such unprecedented battery life has been made possible in DECT ULE chips due to the deep sleep mode (which did not exist for DECT chipsets). The locked mode is particularly useful for applications that need to wake up within every 2 minutes (as seen in graph). For all other applications the unlocked mode of ULE is recommended for improved battery life. Above results were obtained with ULE prototypes in the current version. Chapter: Appendices

15 5.2 Appendix B: DECT ULE Applications Roadmap 5.3 Appendix C: Pendant Phone Application Chapter: Appendices

16 Appendix D: Voice Door Application 5.5 Appendix E: Fire Alert Application Chapter: Appendices 5.4

17 5.6 Appendix F: Technology Comparison Matrix (Low Power Technologies) Technology (adoption) Z- Wave 2003 Zensys Inc. Frequency & Range sub- 1 GHz #1 (Un- reserved) meters Advantages Drawbacks Applicable Market Segments Low interference; Moderate data rate: 40 kb/s Interoperability; Physical layer is proprietary Primarily home- automation within Energy & Utilities ZigBee 2001 ZigBee Alliance RF4CE 2008 RF4CE Consortium 2.4 GHz #1 (Un- reserved) 70 meters 2.4 GHz (Un- reserved) 70 meters Low power; 2- way interoperable; Medium data rate: 250 kb/s Backed by CE market leaders; Built upon IEEE PHY Network complexity; Interference issues; Certification body Interference issues; Still in development Broad Range of applications within Energy, Utilities, Safety, Security & Tele care related Entertainment related applications within the Home Networking vertical Bluetooth Low Energy 2009 Nokia (pioneer) DECT ULE 2009 (ULE Working Group) 2.4 GHz (Un- reserved) 10 meters 1.9 GHz #1 (Reserved) meters Advanced 2- way communication; High data rate: 1 Mb/s; Compatible with legacy Bluetooth systems Voice Enabled; High Data Rate: 1 Mb/s; Compatible with legacy DECT systems Very short range; Ad hoc network; Interference issues; Not voice compatible DECT ULE is new & not yet mainstream in Low Power applications Personal Area Network (PAN) Applications only Assisted Living Safety & Security Energy & Utilities #1: The frequency range for Zwave & Zigbee differs in different parts of the world but they always need to use one of the spectrums within the un- reserved ISM band. DECT can use a reserved frequency band, so the associated risks of maintenance, upgrade, re- calibrations/re- tuning is limited, which is a distinct advantage with ULE. Furthermore, the technology evolution of DECT ensures that the DECT ULE chips are very cost competitive DECT Forum Wabernstr Berne Switzerland secretariat@dect.org Chapter: Appendices