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No More Wireless Fuss: Go DECT NR+

WRITTEN BY PARKER LLOYD, FIRMWARE DEVELOPER AT MISTYWEST

Imagine deploying thousands of IoT sensors throughout a sprawling industrial complex to monitor cooling systems—only for sensors to drop offline and data to become unreliable. Now imagine it’s the peak of summer, and without accurate temperature data, systems start to overheat, server racks begin shutting down, and customers start losing access.

The culprit? A poorly chosen wireless protocol that couldn’t handle interference or re-route data, which has now led to costly troubleshooting, emergency patchwork, and missing the long weekend getaway with your family.

If a wireless protocol wreaking havoc on your network’s reliability, scalability, cost, and mental health is not a risk you want to take, DECT NR+ is the next-gen non-cellular 5G wireless hero that you’ve been waiting for. In this blog post, we’ll cover what DECT NR+ brings to the table, where it’s best suited, and a real-world demonstration of performance with Wirepas 5G mesh.

Source: https://www.dect.org/nrplus

Decentralized and interference-free coverage

Forget the old-school centralized infrastructure that relies on access points (APs), base stations, or gateways to route data between nodes; DECT NR+ lets devices talk directly to each other in a self-organizing mesh network. The result is a reliable, dynamic solution that thrives in large-scale IoT deployments with a vast number of sensors.

DECT NR+ operates in the license-free 1.9 GHz band, avoiding the congestion, interference, and range limitations commonly found in the crowded 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands used by Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It’s also designed to adapt to other sub-6 GHz frequencies, making it flexible for global deployments and future spectrum availability.

Table 1: Comparing DECT NR+ to its competitor protocols

Unlike Zigbee or LoRaWAN, which rely on centralized coordination, DECT NR+ networks can support full decentralization and self-optimization, dynamically adapting routes in real time.

You get stable, reliable connectivity for up to 1 million devices per square kilometer without congestion—ideal for high-density environments like hospitals, where continuous device monitoring can mean life or death, and lower stakes scenarios like signal obstructed fulfillment centers.

A scalable protocol that doesn’t break the bank

DECT NR+ is a go-to choice for scalable IoT networks. Its flexible architecture supports both decentralized mesh and centralized configurations, making deployment and expansion seamless without massive overhead. Eliminating the need for expensive spectrum licensing fees for private networks—where a 10 MHz license for 100,000 people can cost up to $200,000 annually—means significant savings, especially for startups operating with less capital.

The following are just few of the applications where DECT NR+ helps ensure reliable and cost-effective coverage:

Smart Manufacturing: Predictive maintenance of CNC machines, monitoring of HVAC Systems in manufacturing plants, and predictive maintenance for industrial robots
Utility Metering: Gas or smart water metering, smart grids, solar panels, wind turbines and other renewable energy source monitoring
Smart Cities: Traffic management, smart lighting, and emergency systems
Healthcare: Asset tracking of medical equipment, patient vital monitoring and fall detection

Source: Microsoft

DECT NR+ is energy efficient by design. In mesh configurations, nearby nodes can relay messages to the gateway—so each device only needs to make short, low-power transmissions. DECT NR+ can also use a time-synchronized, scheduled communication protocol instead of the constant “always listening” model like Wi-Fi. Devices only wake to transmit when needed and stay in deep sleep mode the rest of the time, saving serious battery life.

So, if you’re looking to build a connected sensor network that doesn’t drain batteries—or your budget—DECT NR+ is a solid bet.

When DECT NR+ may not be the right fit

Because it’s designed primarily for ultra-low power, long-range, or low-data-rate applications, DECT NR+ is not ideal for intensive data-streaming. 4K video or large-scale surveillance systems with multiple high-res feeds are likely better off with Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7, or 5G mmWave (a low latency, high-frequency radio technology).

If you already have stable Wi-Fi or cellular infrastructure in place, adding DECT NR+ might just complicate things since you’re introducing another wireless stack that will need to be integrated with your security, IT, and device management systems. Why bring in another protocol when the current one is handling your bandwidth and coverage needs well?

Plus, as DECT NR+ is still new—only officially standardized by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in 2021—you’ll find fewer off-the-shelf hardware options, less mature development tools, and a smaller support community than established standards like Zigbee, LoRa, or Bluetooth (who have decades of credentials and thousands of subreddit members). All of the above factors could make rapid deployment more challenging, or increase initial development effort.

Demonstrating DECT NR+ in Action

To put DECT NR+ to the test, MistyWest set up a simple proof-of-concept using Wirepas 5G Mesh—a decentralized mesh network implementation that is advancing DECT NR+ as the new standard for massive machine-type communications (mMTC). We started with Wirepas’ introductory tutorial, and the demo let us dive into the magic of devices (nodes) in a DECT NR+ network automatically connecting to each other (and the network resilience that results from it).

Intro to the Wirepas 5G Mesh Demo

Demo Setup and Technical Implementation

We deployed three Nordic nRF9151 DKs—equipped with the transmitters needed for NR+—each running Wirepas firmware and powered on to automatically discover and mesh with nearby nodes. Each board featured four general-purpose buttons preconfigured by Wirepas firmware to send a simple payload (“1”, “2”, “3”, or “4”) corresponding to the button pressed. When activated, these packets were transmitted across the mesh network and surfaced in real time on our MQTT broker, allowing us to monitor the network activity.

Autonomous Network Formation

Upon power-up, the nodes got to work by broadcasting, listening, and forming a mesh network all on their own. No manual setup is required beyond flashing the firmware, which is a welcome change from the device pairing, role assigning and layout planning involved with traditional mesh protocols like Zigbee or Bluetooth. Using logs from an MQTT broker—a central server that manages pub/sub messaging between clients—we confirmed that each device correctly identified and connected with its neighbors, proving that DECT NR+ makes network formation practically effortless.

Nodes That Multitask (Relay and End Device)

Unlike traditional setups that strictly define sensors and relays, DECT NR+ lets devices do both—enabling greater flexibility and efficiency in network design. Each node in this demo doubled as a sensor (sending data) and a relay (forwarding packets along the network). We observed packet routing information in real-time via the MQTT logs as messages hopped between nodes, confirming seamless, decentralized communication.

Built-In Resilience

To see how DECT NR+ and Wirepas handled disruptions, we deliberately powered down one node. Bluetooth Mesh often uses flooding rather than optimized routing, and if a node drops, messages might still get through — but inefficiently, possibly increasing power usage and latency.

DECT NR+, however, self-healed like a champ, rerouted packets automatically and kept communication flowing without a hitch. This self-healing ability is what makes DECT NR+ and Wirepas a strong choice for large-scale, mission-critical IoT deployments.

Source: How to communicate with a Wirepas network using Wirepas Gateway API

Demo Takeaways

This demo proved that DECT NR+ and Wirepas are ready to scale up to tens of thousands of devices on a network, effortlessly supporting massive IoT deployments without the need for meticulous network planning. Wirepas has already brought the first NR+ products to market, showcasing a powerful subset of capabilities and validating the robustness of the platform. Meanwhile, DECT NR+ stands out as a future-proof standard, offering a broad array of features and support for numerous frequency bands—ensuring both short-term flexibility and long-term product evolution. Also, there’s plenty of room for customization—think sensor integration (like temperature, motion, or environmental monitoring) and network optimization (such as configuring how often data is transmitted or prioritizing certain types of traffic for routing).

As for Wirepas’s mom? She’d probably say, “I always knew my little mesh network would grow up to do big things!”

Why DECT NR+ Deserves a Spot in Your IoT Toolkit

If you’re a private network deploying thousands of ultra-low power, long-range, or low-data-rate devices, DECT NR+ proves it’s not just another wireless protocol—it’s a cost-effective, decentralized mesh powerhouse that will scale with your product.

If you’re tired of wrestling with congestion, dropped connections and massive overhead then DECT NR+ might be your new favorite tool in the IoT box.

Ready to take your IoT deployment from good to great? MistyWest can help you get there. Whether you need strategic insights or full-on deployment muscle, we’ve got the skills to bring your fleet of connected sensors to life.

Let’s talk. Let’s build. Let’s go wireless—the smart way.