Connectivity
Railway Interiors International ANNUAL SHOWCASE 2019
26
M any consumers now view their
commute as the time to not only look
to their smartphone for entertainment,
but also for everyday admin. But for many, the
connection is poor. Unfortunately, offering
superfast broadband is an expensive and
complex task. How can rail companies create
a return on that investment?
The answer lies in data and
efficiency gains. In 2016, data
became more valuable than
oil and now rail operators can
leverage its value.
The rise of the IoT – where
everything is connected to
everything else, imbuing once
dumb objects with intelligence
– is giving rail operators
another reason to think
seriously about connectivity.
Technical challenges
However, it isn’t easy. The
biggest technical hurdle is trying to get a
fast-moving metal tube to connect to the mobile
network and then deliver that connectivity to
a large number of people on the train. Plus
this all has to be repeated in reverse to get
the signal out again.
“It is the same challenge as in an office
block, only the train is moving and it can’t drag
a massive cable around behind it,” says Mark
Carter, chief product officer at GlobalReach
Technology. “Factor in that a train is also a
massive Faraday cage a metal box that blocks
many radio frequencies and that just above it
is a massively powerful source of electricity,
and the challenge of making connectivity work
on a train becomes obvious.”
Traditionally, trains have connected to a
mobile network and the internet signal has
been disseminated through the train using
wi-fi. But handing off between the outside
world and the inside of the train and back
again is a very complex problem that requires
management. While 3G and 4G – and soon
5G – telecoms networks have been built to
handle handoff from cell to cell and to manage
bandwidth among a large number of users,
wi-fi, to date, hasn’t.
This is being looked at afresh in the Williams
Rail Review, a government supported initiative
designed to improve customer service –
including connectivity – on the UK’s railways.
“Part of our submission to the Williams
Review centres around using what is known
as Wi-fi 6 and the Hotspot 2.0 over-the-top
offering that creates, in wi-fi, the same sort
of experience found in 5G,” explains Carter,
who sent a detailed submission on connectivity
on UK trains for the review.
Improving wi-fi
With Hotspot 2.0, each device receives a
one-time provisioning file to automatically
configure the wi-fi settings and encryption
without manual intervention. When registered,
the user is provisioned with a Passpoint
Hotspot 2.0 credential, which allows them to
The
passenger
rail connectivity
market is predicted
by Frost & Sullivan
to grow in worth
to US$9.77bn
(€8.77bn)
by 2025
ABOVE AND BELOW:
Hitachi is developing sensor
technology that will allow
passengers to board trains
without barriers
LEFT: ECR’s mobile PoS
technology is being rolled
out across LNER’s new fleet