Enhanced Mobile Broadband under High Speed Mobility
The 5G-VICTORI use case “Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) under High Speed Mobility” will extend the capabilities of the Patras 5G-VINNI facility to demonstrate eMBB functionality through heterogeneous access technologies for on-board network connectivity in a railway setup. Both business (e.g. infotainment services to passengers) and critical operations services will be provided over a unified, orchestrated 5G infrastructure.
The 5G-VICTORI Project Coordinator, IHP GmbH, will provide a millimeter wave (mmWave) solution as one of the technologies that will enable the multi-technology track-to-train communication system. The proposed setup comprises both mmWave trackside nodes to be deployed along the track at P2 in Figure 1. The University of Thessaly (UTH) provides Sub-6 nodes to provide additional means to ensure the communication. Each stanchion has a pair of mmWave and/or Sub-6-GHz Access Points (APs) pointing in one or the other direction of the track, as shown in Figure 2. To maximize connectivity and minimize the disconnection times between handovers from the train to the track APs, the proposed scheme requires antenna modules to be installed both at the front as well as at the rear of the train. IHP’s mmWave solution will be able to ensure the connectivity as the train moves in such high-mobility environment. The mmWave nodes will feature beam tracking capabilities to convey data rates of at least 1.3 Gbps over the complete corridor of coverage.
This project has been funded by the European Commission as part of the H2020 program, under the grant agreement 857201.
