RAN Rel-18: Requirements for Railway from UIC

Ingo Wendler from the worldwide railway organisation, UIC, presented challenges and requirements in view of the upcoming Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS)*.

Challenges: 

• Limited spectrum in 900 MHz FDD and a need for lasting coexistence 
  • GSM-R is in operation and will remain operational alongside FRMCS
  • Railway's constraints imply to preserve at least 10-14 GSM-R carriers dependent on the traffic demands in specific railway environments.
  • Use case envisions co-location of GSM-R & FRMCS at similar power.

Study Item Objectives

• Identify the range of channel bandwidths less than 5 MHz to meet regulatory spectrum block allocations (with limitation to FDD).
• Identify limitations to NR physical layer to support narrowband channel bandwidth (i.e., channel design synchronisation, train speed);

FRMCS deployments in Europe will start in 2025.

• The use of FRMCS, as opposed to the use of GSM-R, will increase significantly because it will also go hand in hand with the digitisation and automation of rail traffic.
• The challenge is to coordinate the different roadmaps of the European countries in the rail ecosystem through technological adjustments (e.g., use of 5G NR).
• The provision of the CBW <5MHz is a global initiative together with partners like Anterix, Qualcomm and Nokia.
• Study proposal is an opportunity to design the 3GPP 5GS ecosystem for an even broader user community.

* Editorial note: 

GSM-R, Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway or GSM-Railway is an international wireless communications standard for railway communication and applications. It will be gradually replaced by FRMCS. 

Download the presentation here.