Empowering Near-URLLC IoT with 5G DECT-2020 NR: Current State and the Road Ahead
Andrey K. Samuylov, Dmitri Moltchanov, Anna Gaydamaka, Eike Lyczkowski, Andreas Frotzscher, Frank von Schoettler, Juho Pirskanen, Jussi Numminen, Juha Salokannel, Endika Llaguno, Rafael Pereira Pires, Dilara Bayar, Mikko Valkama · IEEE Communications Magazine · 2025
DECT-2020 is a standardized multi-hop technology for 5G massive machine-type communications (mMTC). By relying on multi-hop communications, DECT-2020 allows for cost-controlled flexible deployments that enable a plethora of new services, whose requirements in terms of latency, reliability, and throughput are difficult to satisfy by utilizing cellular Internet-of-Things technologies (CIoT). In this article, we outline new DECT-2020 use-cases ranging from mMTC to ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), showing that many modern services lie between these two extremes. We utilize system level simulations to demonstrate how these “near-URLLC” use-cases are satisfied by the DECT-2020. We show that the current evolution of DECT-2020 can provide near-URLLC operation when no multi-hop communications are required, even under interference from competing URLLC/ mMTC traffic. However, provisioning of near-URLLC services over multiple hops requires additional enhancements.