With the next generation of DECT – CAT-iq – standardization is taking over more functionalities as being mandatory and secures interoperability on a much higher level than with GAP.

 

The experience within RTX for working with cordless telephony ranges back to 1993 where the company was founded. Since then the DECT technology has gone through several evolution steps and so has RTX. And since GAP was picked up as a standard amongst the different players on the DECT market a vast majority of the products available on the market have proven interoperability on basic GAP functionalities.
With the next generation of DECT – CAT-iq – the standardization is taking over many more functionalities as being mandatory and thus securing interoperability on a much higher level than with GAP.

RTX Technology began developing our state-of-the-art cordless platform when the first CAT-iq plans became reality in 2007.
We were among the first 3 companies to prove CAT-iq v1 (“voice basic”-profile as it was named then) interoperability during the first unplug fest in October 2007 and have since then worked heavily on implementing CAT-iq v2.
In April 2009 we will have our first CAT-iq v2 platform ready for kick-starting new terminal and base station projects together with our customers. The first actual products will be launched together with SiTel Semiconductor BV and are targeted for the broadband gateway market.
These are the Natalie handset development kit and the Cordless Voice Module (CVM480 VoIP) that is controlled from a host processor in e.g. a DSL gateway and enables the gateway with cordless telephony.

During Q2 2009 samples of our RTX CAT-iq v2 USB-dongle will be ready for interested customers. The USB dongle is basically a DECT/CAT-iq base station with a USB interface instead of a PSTN interface and it adds cordless capabilities to VoIP enabled integrated access devices (IAD) like:

It has the advantage of moving the radio outside of the “host” which reduces the interference issues; it also simplifies type approval and enhances the range performance due to antenna placement and less interference. It also gives the possibility to upgrade the already “installed base” of IAD’s and thus it reduces the up-front cost to the end-user even given the fact that margins are higher on accessories.
The USB dongle is delivered with a software development kit (SDK) that limits the development efforts needed on the host side to support the dongle. The SDK contains a set of ready-to-use C++ classes for controlling the dongle as well as demo applications for Linux and Windows including full source code for the host integration.

 

The certification procedure for CAT-iq v2 is not yet ready and DECT-Forum do not expect it to be final before Q3 or Q4 2009.
RTX will keep developing on CAT-iq along with the releases of ETSI updates are being released. CAT-iq v3 will include light data services and software upgrade over the air (SUOTA), but here RTX has already a well proven proprietary firmware upgrade solution (FWU) that can even be upgraded to CAT-iq v3 in the field after it has been deployed.
We consider this as a strong asset of our platform that will give our customers a future proof product even though it has already been put in production and deployed to the market.
The keys to success for CAT-iq at the moment are High-Definition (HD) voice and Interoperability amongst the different vendors of handsets and base stations.
Our acoustic experts within RTX have already proven in several designs that the CAT-iq HD-voice is superior to legacy GAP products and other consumer technologies like e.g. mobile phones. The next big challenge will be to insure interoperability so apart from enabling CAT-iq features this is really the main focus point for the RTX Cordless Platform in the coming months.

 

Below you can see the CAT-iq roadmap at a glance:

 

 

The table below shows highlighted features of the RTX cordless platform: