DECT-2020 NR Link Distance Performance in Varying Environments: Models and Measurements
Md Mohaiminul Haque, Joonas Sae, Juho Pirskanen, Mikko Valkama
TL;DR
The paper addresses how DECT-2020 NR performs in terms of link distance across varied indoor and outdoor environments using a measurement campaign with pre-commercial hardware. It benchmarks measured RSSI, SNR, and packet success rate against classical path-loss models including FSPL, 3GPP TR 38.901, Two-Ray, Okumura-Hata, COST-231 Hata, and an empirical PL formulation. Key findings show indoor LOS reach up to about 190 m with TX powers around -8 to 0 dBm, indoor NLOS beyond about 60 m with 0 dBm, and outdoor LOS extending to roughly 600 m with +19 dBm, with higher deployment heights further increasing distance. The results suggest DECT-2020 NR can support long-range, low-power IoT deployments and provide deployment benchmarks, particularly aligning with InH-LOS indoors and highlighting the need for refined outdoor propagation models for industrial use cases.
Abstract
Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications 2020 New Radio (DECT-2020 NR) has garnered recognition as an alternative for cellular 5G technology in the internet of things industry. This paper presents a study centered around the analysis of the link distance performance in varying environments for DECT-2020 NR. The study extensively examines and analyzes received signal strength indicator and resulting path loss values in comparison with theoretical models, as well as packet success rates (SR) and signal-to-noise ratio against varying distances. The measurements show that with an SR of over 90%, an antenna height of 1.5 m, indoor link distances with a single device-to-device connection with 0 dBm transmission (TX) power can reach over 60 m in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) areas and up to 190 m in LOS areas with smaller -8 dBm TX power. Similarly, for outdoor use cases, link distances of over 600 m can be reached with +19 dBm TX power.