Distribution system operators need much better real-time visibility of low-voltage networks as distributed renewables, electric vehicles, storage and flexible loads increase stress on local grids. Today, data from smart meters, distribution transformers, switches and other field assets is often limited by fragmented communication technologies, weak coverage, recurring public-network costs, latency, cybersecurity exposure, proprietary ecosystems and vendor lock-in.

Private mesh technologies such as DECT NR+ can improve resilience and cost control, but utility-scale deployment experience is still limited and dependence on a single bearer, chipset or supplier would create new risks. DSOs also need proof that large fleets can remain secure and reliable during outages, fault storms, congestion, radio interference, underground or dense urban conditions, and remote firmware-update campaigns.

MOSAIC-GRID will create a modular multi-bearer architecture in which DECT NR+ is used as a principal private mesh technology and a second independently sourced bearer, such as 5G RedCap, private LTE, Wi-SUN or another suitable industrial radio solution, provides benchmarking, failover or hybrid coverage. The central innovation is an adaptive orchestration layer that selects or combines communication paths based on latency, packet loss, signal quality, congestion, traffic priority, energy consumption, cybersecurity policy, operating cost and national spectrum conditions.

NITES will provide the vendor-neutral Head-End System and system-integration platform for secure data acquisition, multi-vendor device onboarding, lifecycle management, communication monitoring, protocol conversion, data normalisation, event and alarm handling, firmware updates and integration with utility IT/OT systems through standards such as DLMS/COSEM, CIM, MQTT and REST. The solution will include secure boot, mutual authentication, cryptographic key management, role-based access, audit logging and firmware integrity verification aligned with relevant European cybersecurity and utility standards.

The approach combines physical pilots with scalable digital validation. Around 50 engineering prototypes, a pre-series of approximately 250–500 devices and at least 300 field endpoints across two DSO pilots will be complemented by hardware-in-the-loop and network emulation representing at least 5,000 logical endpoints, enabling realistic testing of event storms, interference, outages, device failures and large-scale mesh behaviour without manufacturing thousands of devices.

The consortium will define DSO requirements, regulatory constraints, baseline indicators and target use cases for low-voltage visibility, transformer condition and overload monitoring, and faster fault detection and localisation. It will design the modular system architecture, common hardware and communication abstraction interfaces, cybersecurity framework and integration interfaces to existing SCADA, DMS, OMS and meter-data-management environments.

Partners will develop the multi-bearer field gateway architecture, at least two independent communication module or chipset implementations, the NITES vendor-neutral HES, adaptive communication-orchestration software, secure onboarding and lifecycle-management functions, protocol conversion, event management, dashboards and remote update mechanisms. R&D work will address mesh-network behaviour, radio planning, coexistence, failover, grid-event-aware prioritisation, congestion control and security overhead at fleet scale.

The project will build engineering prototypes and a pre-series device batch, validate the solution in laboratory hardware-in-the-loop and network-emulation environments representing at least 5,000 logical endpoints, and deploy at least 300 physical endpoints across two independent DSO pilots in different countries. The consortium will measure delivery reliability, event-message performance, failover, firmware-update success, fault-localisation improvement, interoperability and total cost of ownership, while preparing cybersecurity pre-compliance, certification, industrialisation, support and exploitation plans.

• Nites — System integrator (project coordinator)