The DECT Forum, the international association of the wireless home and enterprise communication industry, is pleased to announce the availability of CAT-iq White Papers. The White Papers – part 1 “voice” and part 2 “data” – outline the current status and the future profile descriptions of CAT-iq – the technology of choice for voice and data applications.

CAT-iq stands for Cordless Advanced Technology, Internet and Quality, and is the global technology initiative from the DECT Forum, designed for IP-voice services in the next generation networks. CAT-iq focuses on high quality wideband Audio VoIP as well as low bit-rate data applications. The CAT-iq profiles are split between voice and data services, with CAT-iq 1.0 and CAT-iq 2.0 providing features to support key voice enhancements, and CAT-iq 3.0 and CAT-iq 4.0 providing features to support data.

CAT-iq is firmly positioned as a key broadband access technology. CAT-iq has the unique opportunity to continue cordless telephony’s conquest of huge segments of the world’s population, and introduce data services into homes complementing those offered by WLAN and Bluetooth. When reach, standby and talk time, cost and of course voice quality are paramount, CAT-iq is the technology of choice. The Certification process for CAT-iq 2.0 will start in September 2010, enabling market deployment of a new generation of products of various manufacturers before the end of this year.

“The White Papers – part 1 “Voice” and part 2 “data” – provide a comprehensive and detailed portray of the CAT-iq technology and its profiles. With first CAT-iq 2.0 products being available still in 2010, the White Papers will feed the growing interest in CAT-iq as a leading global wireless technology”, says Daniel Hartnett, Chairman of the CAT-iq Working Group within the DECT Forum.

The White Papers are publicly available on the DECT Forum’s CAT-iq website

The DECT Forum is pleased to announce that the first IOP Plugtests™ (Interoperability Test) for CAT-iq 2.0 in cooperation with ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) was successful. With this important milestone CAT-iq 2.0 certification can begin in September 2010.

DECT Forum and ETSI have organized an official Plugtests™ event for CAT-iq 2.0 in Sophia Antipolis (France) in June 2010 where silicon manufacturers, system vendors, OEMs, and carriers have tested the interoperability of their CAT-iq 2.0 implementations against other devices and systems. This successful and well-timed event brought together the following players and suppliers in the CAT-iq space: Cetecom, Dosch&Amand, DSP Group, Lantiq, RTX, Technicolor, and VTech.

With all participants testing against each other, the implementations benefitted from real life test scenarios. The very positive result of the IOP Plugtests™ was that CAT-iq implementations are stable and interoperable. The DECT Forum and ETSI will schedule a second Plugtests™ event in early September.

According to Daniel Hartnett, Chairman of the CAT-iq Working Group within the DECT Forum is this successful Interoperability Test an important milestone for the DECT Forum and the entire value chain of the DECT and CAT-iq industry. This means that the official CAT-iq 2.0 Certification Program can begin in September 2010. The market launch of first CAT-iq devices will happen before the end of 2010.

During the CAT-iq developers conference, October 19/20 2010 Eindhoven, the Netherlands, developers will meet, exchange ideas in order to expand the CAT-iq deployment into teleccom, home automation, smart metering, ultra low power products and service.

About DECT Forum:
The DECT Forum is the international association of the wireless home and enterprise communication industry. With more than 800 million devices sold and growing by more than 80 million devices per year, DECT, DECT 6.0 and CAT-iq are worldwide-adopted technologies with high relevance for wireless voice and broadband home and enterprise communication. The DECT Forum is located in Berne, Switzerland. Full members of the DECT Forum are currently: Ascom, AVM, Binatone, CCT, Cetecom, Deutsche Telekom, DSP Group, Gigaset Communications, GN Netcom, Lantiq, NEC, Nemko, Orange FT, Panasonic, Philips, Plantronics, Polycom, RTX, Sagem, Samsung, SiTel, SGW Electronics, Swissvoice, Technicolor, Unical, Uniden, VTech.

RTX will share their knowledge about development platforms for CAT-iq with the conference attendees during a presentation, and they will have a booth where their solutions will be presented.

About RTX
Wireless Engineering Experts
RTX Telecom A/S is an internationally oriented group and aims to be the preferred wireless engineering partner for the development and production of advanced wireless products.
       

RTX is divided into three business units with individual areas of wireless expertise. These are RTX Technology, RTX Products Hong Kong Ltd. and RTX Network Systems.

Since Announcing the DECT Ultra Low Power (ULP) Technology in June 2009, RTX and SiTel Have Been Working on the Specification and Addition of Extra Features. Today RTX and SiTel Launch DECT ULP Technology at the DECT 2010 Conference in Amsterdam and Conduct a Demo in the Exhibition Area

The interest in DECT ULP has been overwhelming since RTX and SiTel announced it.
   
With the advent of DECT ULP, new application areas can be addressed. A very central feature in ULP is interoperability with an existing DECT/CAT-iq infrastructure, since this will open up a completely new world of opportunities in which DECT ULP devices can be connected to the Internet or LAN through, for example, a CAT-iq enabled Gateway or IAD.

Other key features of DECT ULP are:  
- Native Internet connectivity
- Native audio support through CAT-iq
- Operation in a reserved frequency band - reducing interference issues
- Full compatibility with previous DECT / CAT-iq generations
- Low power consumption when compared to other low power technologies
- Low cost - it builds on mature and proven technology
- Leveraging installed base and IAD/Gateway Connection
 
Availability and solutions
The target for the DECT ULP technology is primarily Automation & Control applications, but it in general it is feasible in a wide number of other application areas. To facilitate easy and fast DECT ULP integration and product development, we provide a flexible Software Development Kit (SDK), which is offered in three different configurations - Basic, Value, and Premium. RTX also offers system design services to product developers who want to integrate the DECT ULP technology into their products or product platforms. Get a head start and benefit from the opportunities in DECT ULP with RTX.

CAT-iq 2.0 implementations are moving into the final phases and in order to ensure a high level of interoperability RTX has planned the next CAT-iq UnPlugFest. This event is a golden opportunity for challenging your CAT-iq 2.0 implementation in a controlled environ­ment in which confidentiality and professionalism are natural ingredients. If interope­rability is a priority for you this event is not to be missed. Main focus this time is validating CAT-iq v2.0 features.
 
Although the primary objective is to bring technical experts together to verify implementations, a likewise important pillar is the valuable discussions in a closed and informal environment. Supporting UnPlug Fests is, hence, beneficial for the whole CAT-iq industry. Please use this event as an opportunity to meet colleagues from the industry and validate your implementations. A number of central players from the CAT-iq industry have already confirmed their support to this event. You therefore have the opportunity to meet players from chipset vendors, device and test equipment manufacturers, and certification laboratories.
 
Attached to this mail you find the invitation to the event including UnPlugFest details. In essence the UnPlug Fest will be held the 26th - 27th January 2010 from 9 AM to 4 PM (both days) at RTX’s premises in Noerresundby, Denmark. Participation is free of charge and there will be catering and refreshments. You can register by sending a mail to technology@rtx.dk no later than January 19th 2010. Please indicate what you will bring to the event, and if you have special requests, please feel free to contact us. Please also feel free to distribute the invitation to companies in your network.

By combining considerable chip knowledge with excellent system domain knowledge, RTX and SiTel have created a new innovative Ultra Low Power (ULP) technology based on CAT-iq – this is the first step into completely new application areas for DECT/CAT-iq.

RTX and SiTel have joined forces in the quest for new and innovative battery management algorithms. The primary objective in the program has been to obtain a considerable reduction in power consumption in order to extend battery life, for example for cordless phones. The outcome is a new and ground breaking technology - Ultra Low Power (ULP) - with impressive features, and furthermore interoperable with DECT/CAT-iq. Consequently, ULP devices are able to use an already existing DECT/CAT-iq infrastructure; hence reducing risk and complexity in introducing ULP based devices.

 
About Ultra Low Power (ULP) technology
The new and innovative ULP technology targets not only cordless phones but battery powered devices in general - especially applications in which battery life is an essential issue. Consequently, primary application areas for ULP include:

• Home Entertainment and Control devices – smart lighting, wireless door bell, safety and security, advanced temperature control (e.g. HVAC systems)
• Home Awareness – metering, fire and smoke detectors, water and power sensors, smart appliances, remote monitoring, sensor networks etc.
• Advanced Remote Controls – e.g. two-way remote controls for consumer electronics
  

A very central feature in ULP is interoperability with an existing DECT/CAT-iq infrastructure, since this will open up a completely new world of opportunities in which ULP devices can be connected to the Internet or LAN through for example a CAT-iq enabled Gateway or IAD. This is especially interesting in connection with for example remote monitoring applications. Key features of ULP are:

Based on mature and proven technology

• Supports multiple nodes
• Easy and low risk integration path into existing products
• Typical power consumption reduced by a factor 40 over traditional DECT power management algorithms
  

Currently, application profiles are being developed and are to be incorporated into the upcoming CAT-iq V4.0 standard.

“The market is asking for greener products. Certain retail chains start now also to push the issue of sustainability and they measure their suppliers against a scorecard of “green” metrics”, says Arend van der Weijden, CMO at SiTel Semiconductor BV. The solutions of RTX and SiTel semiconductor are leading in this field.

 
Availability and solutions
“RTX is in the process of creating a platform, modules and an SDK (software Develoment Kit) for easy and fast ULP integration and product development”, says Lasse Anker Knudsen, Technical Marketing Manager at RTX Telecom A/S. RTX also offers system design services to product developers who want to integrate the ULP technology into their products or product platforms. Get a head start and benefit from the opportunities in ULP with RTX.