Variants and features

The Modem library comes in three variants, each with a specific feature set and support for the equivalent modem firmware.

Modem library variants and supported modem firmware
Variant	Supported modem firmware
Cellular	mfw_nrf9160 mfw_nrf91x1 mfw_nrf9151-ntn
DECT NR+ PHY	mfw_nr+-phy_nrf91x1
DECT NR+	mfw_nr+_nrf91x1

Note

The DECT NR+ and DECT NR+ PHY variants support different versions of the mfw-nr+_nrf91x1 modem firmware.

Features that are common across modem firmware, are also common across Modem library variants. The table below shows which feature and API is supported in which Modem library variant:

Supported features by Modem library variant and modem firmware.
Feature	API header	Cellular			DECT NR+ PHY	DECT NR+
Feature	API header	mfw_nrf9160	mfw_nrf91x1	mfw_nrf9151-ntn	mfw-nr+_nrf91x1 (v1.x)	mfw-nr+_nrf91x1 (v2.x)
Modem SoC management	`nrf_modem.h`	Yes			Yes	Yes
Modem fault handling	`nrf_modem.h`	Yes			Yes	Yes
Modem traces	`nrf_modem_trace.h`	Yes			Yes	Yes
Modem bootloader	`nrf_modem_bootloader.h`	Yes			Yes	Yes
Delta firmware updates	`nrf_modem_delta_dfu.h`	Yes			Yes	Yes
Library logging	`nrf_modem_os.h`	Yes			Yes	Yes
AT commands	`nrf_modem_at.h`	Yes			Yes	Yes
DECT NR+ physical layer	`nrf_modem_dect_phy.h`	No			Yes	Yes
DECT NR+	`nrf_modem_dect.h`	No			No	Yes
Networking sockets	`nrf_socket.h`	Yes			No	No
GNSS	`nrf_modem_gnss.h`	Yes			No	No
SoftSIM	`nrf_modem_softsim.h`	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
RS Capture API	`nrf_modem_rs_capture.h`	No	Yes	Yes	No	No

Note

The different APIs might have certain subsets of functionality that are only supported by certain modem firmware and modem firmware versions. For example, Networking sockets is supported for all cellular firmware (and Modem library variants), but the socket option NRF_SO_SEC_CIPHERSUITE_USED is not supported by mfw_nrf9160. Exceptions like this are documented with notes like the following in the header files:

/**
 * @note This is only supported by the following modem firmware:
 *       - mfw_nrf91x1
 *       - mfw_nrf9151-ntn
 */

Additionally, note that while the Modem library AT interface is fully supported by all Modem library variants, the AT command set supported by each variant is different.