Enhanced reliability

and stability
of the GSM-R system
Jean Michel Evanghelou
Head of Railways Solution
Kapsch CarrierCom

Gottfried WINTER
Head of GSM-R Sales Department
Funkwerk AG

www.gsm-rail.com

Agenda

1. Enhanced reliability and stability of the GSM-R

infrastructure considering interoperability
2. Enhanced reliability and stability of the GSM-R cab
radio/ EDOR considering interoperability

www.gsm-rail.com

22

Agenda

1. Enhanced reliability and stability of the GSM-R

infrastructure considering interoperability
2. Enhanced reliability and stability of the GSM-R cab
radio/ EDOR considering interoperability

www.gsm-rail.com

33

The Departure Point : GSM-Rs Pure-Play Telecom Heritage

A network architecture built on GSM standards

GSM-R seen as a pure telecom system

Safety requirements applied onto the ETCS 2 application layer only

Foundation for evolution set : R4, GPRS, IP

www.gsm-rail.com

GSM-R Lifecycle Adapted to Railway Requirements

Railway versus Telecom lifecycles

Long term technology support (beyond 2030)

Evolutionary products

Obsolescence management to address longevity requirements

www.gsm-rail.com

GSM-R : from Telecom Service to a Mission-Critical Element

Railway operational rules mandate functionalities not included in legacy GSM standard

Features added to meet the specific requirements of Railways critical communications

ASCI Features

FN, LDA, REC

Shunting

ETCS, ER-Band

GSM-R providers refine specific and complex algorithms for radio signal processing to
compensate the impact of high speed on voice calls (HSUDR)
Strong demand for improved Railway Emergency Call functionality and Location
Dependent Addressing feature : eREC & eLDA

www.gsm-rail.com

GSM-R Capabilities to Deliver Highest Quality of Service

Rules have been set on GSM-R infrastructure to ensure the highest levels of reliability,
availability and security (Voice and ETCS L2) - Voice circuits & now packet mode

GSM-R specific architecture is designed to continuously improve network security

Automated Disaster Recovery

Double Coverage for Radio Sites

Core Network Geo-Redundancy

Radio Cell Overlapping

Definition of full GSM-R ecosystem including terminals, cab radios, GPRS, ...
Interoperability tests between vendors and End-to-End validation of ecosystem
products

www.gsm-rail.com

Reliability Radio Approach

BTS with internal redundancy to protect BCCH (Broadcast Control CHannel) bearer

Double coverage with co-located BTS in the same radio site

On a given radio layer, a cell can allow handover from neighboring cells N-2 and N+2

Cell N-2

Cell N-1

Cell N

Cell N+1

Cell N-1

Cell N

Cell N+1

Cell N+2

Layer 1

Layer 2

Cell N-2

Cell N+2

www.gsm-rail.com

Flexibility Core Approach : GSM-R R4 Deployments

Full GSM-R R4 networks, combined with ETCS L2 & High Speed
Austria

LIVE R4

Bulgaria

LIVE R4

Czech Republic

LIVE R4

Lithuania
United Kingdom
Algeria

Ireland

ETCS L2

High Speed

ETCS L2

LIVE R4
LIVE R4

ETCS L2

R4 in validation

ETCS L2

R4 in validation
R4 in validation

ETCS L2

Poland
France
Germany

Hungary
Saudi Arabia
Slovenia
Netherlands

Norway
Sweden

R4 in
deployment
R4 in
deployment

R4 in
deployment
R4 in
deployment
R4 in
deployment
R4 in
engineeering
R4 in
engineering
R4 in
engineering

ETCS L2

ETCS L2

High Speed
High Speed

ETCS L2
ETCS L2

High Speed

ETCS L2

High Speed

ETCS L2

High Speed

ETCS L2

High Speed

www.gsm-rail.com

Stability Core Approach : Disaster Recovery Schemes

MSCS 1

HLR 1

MSCS 2

HLR 2

IP routers

IP routers

Jeddah OCC

Media
Gateway 1

KAEC BOCC

SMS-C
VMS
VRS
SGW 1

SCP1

BSC 1A/2B TCU 1A/2B

SCP 2

SMS-C
VMS
VRS

Media
Gateway 2

SGW 2

GSM-R
Dispatcher
Switch

ADM SDH

In case of loss of the complete active

switching center, a recovery will be set
from the failed switching center to the
backup one.

Backup MSC becomes active and can

handle the complete network traffic
management.

GSM-R
Dispatcher
Switch

Optical SDH
Transmission Network

BTS network

The backup switching center is ready to

perform the service as HLR, IN and
SGW nodes, working in mated-pair
have up-to-date data.

ADM SDH

BSC 2A/1B

TCU 2A/1B

As one active BSC of one radio layer is

down, process to activate related
backup BSC for this radio layer has to
be done.
Switchover of the optical transmission
network has to be performed to ensure
the right paths for new configuration of
service management.
www.gsm-rail.com

10

Agenda

1. Enhanced reliability and stability of the GSM-R

infrastructure considering interoperability
2. Enhanced reliability and stability of the GSM-R cab
radio/ EDOR considering interoperability

www.gsm-rail.com

11
11

GSM-R Network

Handhelds
(GPH, OPH, OPS)

Dispatchersystem

GSM-R
network

Cab Radios

EDOR

www.gsm-rail.com

12

How to verify Interoperability?

Cab Radios, EDOR and SIM cards are subject to Interoperability
Terminals have to work seamless in each national network
Cab Radio and EDOR standard is based on actual EIRENE,
Baselines and National Add-ons
To assure all these features -> Suppliers have to provide
certificates of the European Notified Body as well as of all
National Authorities
Tests, lab costs, preparation of documents and invoices of the
authorities are very cost driving

www.gsm-rail.com

13
13

Six key questions regarding GSM-R terminals

How to meet the high demands on reliability?

How to warrant the Railway product lifecycles also with the cab radio?

How to ensure the sufficient availability of cab radio and EDOR equipment?

How to save life cycle costs?

How to open the cab radio for implementing of additional features?

How to handle the drastic explosion of homologation costs?

www.gsm-rail.com

14
14

Reliability / Life cycle

How to meet the high demands on reliability?

Development according to the requirements of security, reliability and stability
More than 10 years experience in the field permanent feed-back for improvements

How to warrant the Railway product lifecycles also with the cab radio and EDOR?

Long term technology support for cab radios beyond 2030

High level obsolescence management (long life electronic components, stock)

www.gsm-rail.com

15

Availability / Life cycle costs

How to ensure the sufficient availability of cab radio and EDOR equipment?
Improvement of MTBF figures
Implementation of the new GSM-R transceiver generation (blocking, GSM-ER band)

How to save life cycle costs?

Remote diagnosis procedures for pre-corrective maintenance

Remote Software Upgrade system

www.gsm-rail.com

16

Additional features / costs for Homologation

How to open the cab radio and EDOR for implementing of additional features?
Faster time to market required
Reaction-less functional modules for EIRENE-independent feature implementation

How to handle the drastic explosion of homologation costs?

Improvement of modular hard- and software design

Customized compilation

www.gsm-rail.com

17

Conclusion

The industry is ready to meet

the special railway
requirements of enhanced
reliability
and stability by considering
the interoperability

www.gsm-rail.com

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18

Thank you

www.gsm-rail.com