Wireless Digital Train Line for Passenger Trains – Phase 3

[FrensicPic]

Gonna take me a while to digest this!
"In an extensive third phase of a Federal Railroad Administration-funded research project running from August 2020 through July 2022, a team at the Advanced Telecommunications Engineering Laboratory at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln designed, developed, and evaluated wireless communications architectures for rail services in North America, with a focus on high-speed rail services. During this phase, the team focused on mitigating a significant challenge, not only in the rail industry but in fact across all sectors: radio frequency (RF) spectrum scarcity. RF spectrum resources are a necessity for any wireless solution, and with the rapid proliferation of wireless services and applications in all aspects of daily life and society, RF resources are becoming overused and expensive to license. Therefore, the team studied RF spectrum already owned by the rail industry, but that may be abandoned, underused, or used only for legacy applications. Such bands are ideal candidates for modernization and re-use."

Wireless Digital Train Line for Passenger Trains – Phase 3 | FRA

In an extensive third phase of a Federal Railroad Administration-funded research project running from August 2020 through July 2022, a team at the Advanced Telecommunications Engineering Laboratory at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln designed, developed, and evaluated wireless communications ar

railroads.dot.gov

 

[gary123]

Use the 26.965-27405 spectrum. Sorry I couldn't resist. In actuality this is a problem all over. The spectrum is full of users. Some space could be freed up by updating older infrastructures but this is a time consuming process. The other option I see a lot in industry is micro power use. This is using 10-50 mw or so with a range of hundreds of feet or less. Structured very similar the the Wifi bands. This type of 'system' lets you use a small sliver of the spectrum over and over.

 

[chrismol1]

RF resources into the next generation...I've also seen documents talking about using unused spectrum in 220mhz for next gen data applications for freight stuff, newer modulations and data for EOTs, DPUs, more wayside data applications. It talked of using 220mhz for better range, more data applications and equipping EOTs with GPS and feeding that to the trains computer mapping

 

[AK9R]

I've also seen documents talking about using unused spectrum in 220mhz for next gen data applications for freight stuff, newer modulations and data for EOTs, DPUs, more wayside data applications.

The segment between 220 and 222 MHz that was carved out of the amateur radio spectrum years ago is currently being used for PTC. Since the railroads are hinting that 2 MHz isn't enough for what they want to do with PTC, I can't imagine that there's room for "next gen data".

 

[chrismol1]

Forgive me, as referring to the 220 as a band area. This is in addition to and seeking approval for additonal use of the spectrum. I've found what it was

To alleviate spectrum shortfalls in congested markets, PTC-220
subsequently obtained additional spectrum in the 219.5-220 MHz portion of the
Automated Maritime Telecommunications System (“AMTS”) band. In granting waivers
of the various Part 80 rules needed to deploy the AMTS frequencies on the railroads’
existing infrastructure, the Commission agreed that the waivers could be used both for
PTC and “other rail safety applications.”
PTC-220 now seeks the same flexibility for its 220 MHz waivers
There is no longer any justification for the PTC-only limitation on the 220 MHz waivers. The Commission instituted this restriction to help ensure that Congress’ directive to implement a nationwide, interoperable PTC network was achieved. The railroads achieved that objective by November 2020, with over 57,000 railroad route miles covered by PTC service. All of the licenses will continue to be used for PTC, which will have the highest priority of any application. But there is no public policy justification for preventing the spectrum from also being used for other rail safety applications.

 

[Annaroy24]

Gonna take me a while to digest this!
"In an extensive third phase of a Federal Railroad Administration-funded research project running from August 2020 through July 2022, a team at the Advanced Telecommunications Engineering Laboratory at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln designed, developed, and evaluated wireless communications architectures for rail services in North America, with a focus on high-speed rail services. During this phase, the team focused on mitigating a significant challenge, not only in the rail industry but in fact across all sectors: radio frequency (RF) spectrum scarcity. RF spectrum resources are a necessity for any wireless solution, and with the rapid proliferation of wireless services and applications in all aspects of daily life and society, RF resources are becoming overused and expensive to license. Therefore, the team studied RF spectrum already owned by the rail industry, but that may be abandoned, underused, or used only for legacy applications. Such bands are ideal candidates for modernization and re-use."

It's interesting to read about the research project conducted by the Advanced Telecommunications Engineering Laboratory at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The focus on designing and evaluating wireless communications architectures for rail services in North America, especially for high-speed rail services, is important. The issue of radio frequency spectrum scarcity is a significant challenge across various sectors and is becoming increasingly expensive to license. It's fascinating to see how the team tackled this problem by studying RF spectrum owned by the rail industry that is underused or abandoned, which could be modernized and re-used. It shows the importance of finding innovative solutions to address challenges and to make better use of existing resources.