DECT ultra low energy (DECT ULE)

A wide variety of wired and wireless technologies are used in smart homes: Ethernet and Powerline are among the well-known wired technologies, while WLANs, Z-Wave, Bluetooth, ZigBee and Enocean are among the wireless technologies, which also include DECTULE (Ultra Low Energy).

DECT(Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) is the well-known standard for in-house cordless telephony. The energy-saving version DECT ULE works with a sleep mode and has a lower data rate than classic DECT. The maximum data rate is 1.152 Mbit/s. The radio protocols are modified to consume little energy and thus significantly extend the battery life of the sensor and actuator batteries. The power consumption is a few microamps and the full transmit power is less than 250 mW, which is lower than Bluetooth low energy( BLE). The advantage of DECT ULE in the smart home is that DECT is a proven technology that has been used for many years and is also suitable for connecting sensors and actuators to the Internet of Things( IoT).

DECT operates in a frequency band between 1.880 GHz and 1.900 GHz that is reserved specifically for DECT and is not affected by other radio applications. In the frequency range mentioned, 10 channels with a bandwidth of 1,728 kHz are available. In contrast, other radio technologies use the ISM bands at 433 MHz, 868 MHz and 2.4 GHz. The latter frequency range is used by WiFi, Bluetooth and Z-Wave. Compared to WiFi and Z-Wave, DECT ULE has the advantage that the wavelengths at 1.9 GHz penetrate walls, floors and ceilings better. In addition, all ULE communication is encrypted using the Advanced Encryption Standard( AES). The distances that can be bridged with DECT ULE are about 50 m in-house and about 500 m outside buildings.

The ULE specifications were developed by the DECT Forum and ETSI.