Providing wireless bandwidth for high-speed rail operations : final report.

Final reportPDFTech ReportDOT/FRA/ORD-16/28BandwidthCase studiesFrequency (Electromagnetism)High speed railWireless communication systemsUnited StatesUnited States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research, Development, and TechnologyWijesekera, DumindaBandara, DamindraGeorge Mason University. Dept. of Computer ScienceUnited States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Railroad Policy and DevelopmentUnited States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research, Development, and TechnologyUS Transportation CollectionThis project examined the possibility of providing wireless communication for train control systems on American high-speed trains. In thisstudy, the key issue is that the frequencies allocated for rail operations in the U.S. and the frequencies used by GSM-R in other parts of the worldhave different capabilities. In Europe, GSM-R is transmitted over frequencies ranging from 800 MHz to 900 MHz. The U.S. has less bandwidthavailable with a lower frequency spectrum. This project was carried out in two phases: 1) A frequency analysis was done to see how theavailable frequency band should be divided to support train operations. For varying bit rates, modulation schemes and number of packets perhandshake, models were developed to calculate the number of trains that a WIU can handle and the maximum speed the train can operate at, and2) A detailed link budget analysis was used to calculate the received power level. Given that high-speed lines are currently not available, theproject used SCRRA lines in Southern California and the Coast Starlight light rail line as case studies for the analysis. The locations of WIUs,points along the train line, and the terrain features were determined using existing maps; all of which were applied to calculate estimates ofreceive power for the train\ue2\u20ac\u2122s communications