What is DECT ?

DECT is Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications. DECT is a wireless communication standard. It

can provide wireless access for both indoor and outdoor environment with cell radius ranging from 50 to
several hundred meters. Hence, it is suitable for the development of residential, business and public
applications. Moreover, DECT is not limited to telephony (i.e. speech), but also handles text and in general
data as well.

DECT is an access system, without any specific (defined) backbone network. As such it relays to a large
extent on the backbone network(s) it is attached to. DECT have to be adapted to any such backbone system,
and it is imperative that this "adaptation" is not forming a bottleneck. For many contemporary systems
expected to be of high importance as backbone networks for DECT specific internetworking standards have
been developed e.g. ISDN, GSM. DECT is capable of offering services with these networks. One could say
that with these internetworking standards DECT becomes a part of these networks. Consequently, DECT is
no longer just a simple extension of the networks, but enhances the services and capabilities of these
networks.

In the DECT standard, the interworkings with many kinds of networks are specified. Up to now, the
applications defined in the DECT data services profiles include the Ethernet and the Token Ring LANs,
TCP/IP, MANs, Modems, RS-232, X.25, Real-Time Video, ATM, Multimedia, Paging, Telemetry, Fax, E-
mail, WWW and X.400.

General Characteristics of DECT :

Frequency Range: 1.88 - 1.90 GHz

Carrier Spacing: 1.728 MHz Peak
Transmit Power: 250 mW
Channels/Carrier: 2 X 12
Duplex Method: TDD using 2 slots on the same RF carrier
Channelization: TDMA/FDMA
Duplex Channels: 120
Frame Length: 10ms
Speech Coding: 32 kbit/s ADPCM
Modulation: GSMSK
Gross Data Rate: 1.152 Mbit/s

ERICSSON

The principal applications for the DECT standard to date are:

* Multi-cell cordless communication systems ('cordless PBX') for business enterprises * Radio access
systems for subscribers to public telecom services, as an alternative or complement to wired access, termed
Wireless Local Loop (WLL). Generally, the subscriber still uses a standard telephone, and does not have
any communications mobility. However, from a technical perspective, subscribers can be given a cordless
phone to provide limited mobility in a local area, in which case the service is referred to as Cordless
Terminal Mobility (CTM). * Single-cell home cordless phones. * DECT/GSM dual mode phones

Future applications are expected to include:

* Cordless Local Area Networks (CLANs) * GSM/DECT linked networks to provide seamless mobile
communications indoors and outdoors.

Ericsson leads the worldwide DECT market

Ericsson was the first company to launch a commercial DECT-based cordless phone system, back in 1993,
and holds a market-leading position in the two principal application areas to date - business cordless
systems and public network radio access systems..

In the business cordless sector, Ericsson is supplying DECT-based systems with over 350,000 cordless
extensions to customers in 26 countries, giving the company an estimated 50 per cent of the DECT cordless
PBX market.

In the public network access sector, Ericsson is supplying DECT-based DRA 1900 radio access systems as
an alternative to traditional wired access, for public networks in 17 countries. To date, orders for around
350,000 DECT WLL subscriber connections have been received.

Ericsson's DECT developments and marketing are managed from the company's Netherlands operation,
and research and development work takes place in five countries.

The Ericsson DECT portfolio

Business cordless: Ericsson's DECT-based cordless communication system supports up to 3000 cordless
extensions on one or more sites. Cordless extensions can be added to virtually any PBX system, and can
also be supplied as part of a turnkey business communication system based on the Ericsson Consono
MD110 or BusinessPhone PBX. The system is designed for environments where workers are highly
mobile, such as manufacturing halls, warehouses, offices, retail stores, airports and conference and
exhibition centres.

The second-generation Ericsson DECT cordless phones measure just 145 x 54 x 17mm, and weight only
130 grammes. They offer nine hours talk time and 45 hours standby.

Wireless access to fixed networks: The Ericsson DRA 1900 is a DECT-based WLL radio access system
that provides a radio spectrum-efficient way of linking subscribers into a fixed telephone network.
Subscribers are given radio transceivers into which a standard telephone, fax or modem can be plugged.
Ericsson systems also support CTM services, and the first trials are well under way.

A European initiative that won a worldwide following

The DECT standard was conceived as a pan-European cordless phone standard, using new digital radio
technology to deliver high speech quality, high security against eavesdropping, and high immunity from
radio interference.

Since 1993, DECT has been a mandatory standard in the member countries of the European Union, with
radio frequencies in the 1.88-1.9GHz freed up for DECT systems.

The DECT standard has also won a keen following in countries outside the EU, and outside Europe. To
date, the standard has been adopted for use in 26 countries, with a further 11 well on the way to adopting it.

TDMA radio technology

The DECT air interface standard is based on TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) technology, as are
the three main standards for cellular mobile telephony - GSM, D- AMPS and the Japanese PDC.

The DECT standard can be used for single-cell systems (for example home cordless phones) and multi-cell
systems (for example business cordless systems). The TDMA technology means that each carrier in a
DECT system is split into timeslots, so that a single radio transceiver can handle up to 12 speech channels,
and each base station can support up to 120 speech channels.
DECT users can make and receive calls when in range of a radio base station (from 20-50 metres indoors
and up to 300 metres out of doors). A seamless handover facility that is part of the standard allows users to
move between base stations during a call without being cut off

Combining GSM and DECT benefits

The strength of the DECT air interface is its ability to support high concentrations of mobile users in
situations such as office and factory environments. The strength of the GSM digital wireless interface, on
the other hand, is to provide continuous wireless access for users who may be travelling large distances at
high speed.

There is currently a high level of interest in combining these complementary strengths by adding DECT
cordless networks within GSM cellular wireless networks, to allow seamless service delivery indoors and
outdoors. The necessary dual-mode phones, combining both GSM and DECT access, have been developed.
Ericsson is already well under way in developing their second generation dual mode phones.

The digital radio technology used in the DECT standard is TDMA - Time Division Multiple Access. As the
name suggests, the basic principle of TDMA is to create multiple speech channels within the same radio
carrier by dividing it in the time domain. TDMA radio technology is also the basis of the world's three main
digital cellular standards - GSM (and DCS1800), D-AMPS and PDC.

In the DECT standard, the 20MHz of radio spectrum is managed as follows. There are 10 carriers (radio
channels), each of 1.728MHz. Each carrier is divided into 12 duplex timeslots (24 in total), to allow 12
simultaneous calls. Only a single transceiver is needed for each carrier. With 10 carriers, the capacity is 120
radio channels.

An important feature of this time-division technology is that an individual cordless phone is only
transmitting or receiving for two of the available timeslots. For the remaining time, it can be doing other
things. For example it can be used to carry a 'call waiting' signal, and allow the user to switch between two
calls.

In a business cordless communication system, the most important use of these other timeslots is to monitor
all the other frequencies and timeslots, to see if a better signal is available. If a better signal is available on
another channel (for example if the user has moved away from the original base station and towards
another), handover to the new base station can be achieved. This is the basic mechanism that supports
roaming throughout the premises covered by a DECT system.

This control of handover by the cordless phone rather than by the radio network represents a significant
difference between the DECT standard and the main digital cellular standards, even though they all share
the same TDMA radio technology.

This DECT phone handover is undetectable to the user - an important consideration in a microcellular
environment where several handovers may be necessary within the duration of a short call.

Another benefit of the discontinuous transmission is that the drain on the battery in the cordless phone is
minimised, and the practical usage time between battery charges is maximised. Latest-generation DECT
cordless phones typically support 45 hours standby or nine hours talktime between battery recharges.

DECT: a digital standard for business cordless and home cordless phones, and for public network access

A European initiative that has won worldwide support

The DECT standard was initially conceived in the mid-1980s as a pan-European standard for domestic
cordless phones.
The objective of the new standard, proposed by CEPT (the Council of European PTTs), was to use digital
radio technology to improve the performance of cordless phones in three important areas - speech quality,
security against eavesdropping, and immunity from radio interference between nearby cordless phones.

By the time the DECT standard was finalised in 1992, and published by ETSI (European
Telecommunications Standards Institute, the successor to CEPT), the scope of the standard had broadened
beyond domestic cordless phones to include two additional application areas. One was business cordless
telephones (the so-called cordless PBX or wireless PBX) and the other was as a cordless access system for
subscribers to public telecom networks.

Since 1993, DECT has been a mandatory standard throughout the European Union. Member countries have
set aside radio frequencies in the 1.88-1.9GHz for DECT systems. The DECT standard has also been
adopted for use in countries outside the EU. The latest information is that DECT is regarded as a standard
in 26 countries, making it the most widely-used digital standard for cordless communications.

For this reason, the name of the DECT standard has been revised. In the original form, the letter 'E' stood
for 'European'. Now, it denotes 'Enhanced'. So, today, DECT means Digital Enhanced Cordless
Telecommunications.

What does the DECT standard cover ?

DECT is a digital radio access standard for single- and multiple-cell cordless communications. It is based
on a multi-carrier TDMA (time division multiple access) technology. This is the same technology used in
the main digital cellular standards, but the central difference is that cellular systems were developed for
wide-area coverage, whereas the DECT standard was optimised for local coverage, with high densities of
users.

The standard specifies four layers of connectivity, plus other important functions. The four layers
correspond approximately to layers 1-3 of the ISO Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, as follows:

1. Physical layer: Radio parameters such as frequency, timing and power values, bit and slot
synchronisation, and transmitter and receiver performance.

2. Medium Access Control layer: The establishment and release of connections between portable and fixed
parts of the DECT system.

3. Data Link Control layer: Provides very reliable data links to the Network layer, for signalling, speech
transmission, and circuit- and packet-switched data transmission.

4. Network layer: The main signalling layer, specifying message exchanges required for the establishment,
maintenance and release of calls between portable and fixed elements of the network.

Other elements of the DECT standard cover equipment identities and addressing, security authentication
procedures, speech coding and transmission, Public Access Profile and cryptographic algorithms.

Applications for the DECT standard

The three applications for the DECT standard that have reached widespread commercial deployment so far
are for home cordless phones, business cordless systems, and as a radio alternative to wired subscriber
accesses in public fixed telecom networks, known as Wireless Local Loop (WLL).

In a DECT home cordless phone, a typical DECT system consists of a phone handset and a base unit that
contains the radio base station.

In a DECT business cordless system, the core radio network is a number of radio base stations, all
connected to a PBX through a radio exchange. A DECT business cordless system has an architecture that is
similar in concept to a cellular mobile phone system, with a network of radio base stations so that users can
walk around the premises, making and receiving calls. The cells in a DECT business cordless system are
much smaller (pico-cells) than are used in a cellular network, which allow much higher user densities.
DECT permits the highest user densities of any cordless system, up to 100,000 per square kilometre.

In a DECT WLL system, the radio base station is located somewhere in the neighbourhood, and each
subscriber is equipped with a DECT transceiver unit into which a standard telephone can be plugged.
Group 3 fax machines and data modems can also be used. A further development of this public network
access concept is to equip subscribers with DECT digital cordless phones, to provide a limited degree of
mobility in a local area. This solution is termed Cordless Terminal Mobility (CTM).

DECT strengths

High capacity: The digital TDMA radio technology used in the DECT standard, with its low radio
interference characteristics, allows business cordless systems to handle up to 100,000 users per square
kilometre. This allows even the most densely-occupied office buildings and similar locations to be served.

High speech quality: Speech is digitally encoded before transmission, using 32 kbit/s ADPCM (Adaptive
Differential Pulse Code Modulation) speech encoding. The resulting speech quality is as good as with an
ordinary wired phone.

High security: The DECT standard uses encryption techniques so that radio eavesdropping is virtually
impossible.

Long battery life: The radio technology uses discontinuous transmission, occupying only two out of the 16
timeslots, which reduces the load on the battery in the cordless phone. Standby and talk times of 45 hours
and nine hours are commonly available in the latest DECT cordless phones.

Seamless handover of calls: In a DECT business cordless system, as the user moves around from one pico-
cell to another during a call, it is the phone rather than the radio network that initiates handover from cell to
cell. A 'make-before-break' handover principle ensures that the handover is undetectable to the user.

Data as well as voice: The DECT standard permits cordless data communications as well as voice, creating
the possibility of cordless LANs (Local Area Networks) which could share capacity with cordless
telephone systems.

Profiles for interworking: Another feature of the DECT standard is that it has been developed with a
number of different interconnection profiles so that a DECT system can be linked to other networks
including GSM digital cellular networks, to provide integrated communications mobility.

One of the most important profiles is the GAP (Generic Access Profile), which ensures that all DECT
products from different manufacturers will be compatible. This promotes competition, and provides users
with a wider range of DECT products to choose from.