A novel network architecture for train-to-wayside communication with quality of service over heterogeneous wireless networks

Abstract

In the railway industry, there are nowadays different actors who would like to send or receive data from the wayside to an onboard device or vice versa. These actors are e.g., the Train Operation Company, the Train Constructing Company, a Content Provider, etc. This requires a communication module on each train and at the wayside. These modules interact with each other over heterogeneous wireless links. This system is referred to as the Train-to-Wayside Communication System (TWCS). While there are already a lot of deployments using a TWCS, the implementation of quality of service, performance enhancing proxies (PEP) and the network mobility functions have not yet been fully integrated in TWCS systems. Therefore, we propose a novel and modular IPv6-enabled TWCS architecture in this article. It jointly tackles these functions and considers their mutual dependencies and relationships. DiffServ is used to differentiate between service classes and priorities. Virtual local area networks are used to differentiate between different service level agreements. In the PEP, we propose to use a distributed TCP accelerator to optimize bandwidth usage. Concerning network mobility, we propose to use the SCTP protocol (with Dynamic Address Reconfiguration and PR-SCTP extensions) to create a tunnel per wireless link, in order to support the reliable transmission of data between the accelerators. We have analyzed different design choices, pinpointed the main implementation challenges and identified candidate solutions for the different modules in the TWCS system. As such, we present an elaborated framework that can be used for prototyping a fully featured TWCS.

Internet on trains: A multi-criteria analysis of on-board deployment options for on-train cellular connectivity

“…The feasibility of train-to-wayside communication with quality of service over heterogeneous wireless networks was explored in [3]. Although this work is indicative of future developments for reliable train-to-wayside communication, it does not address the challenges that a service operator faces to select the on-board distribution architecture (Wi-Fi or Ethernet is assumed).…”

Design and Prototype of a Train-to-Wayside Communication Architecture

“…More information about the assignment of the flow label can be found in [13] and a description of the different QoS components and there implementation is worked out in [16] in more detail than in what follows.…”

Insights in the cost of continuous broadband Internet on trains for multi-service deployments by multiple actors with resource sharing

“…A combination of these technologies is typically considered to be used for the train-to-wayside communication [2,4,[6][7][8]. Table 1 gives an overview of these access technologies and is based on [2,9].…”

“…For our study, the train-to-wayside architecture described in [4] is used. This architecture can handle QoS requirements from different services over heterogeneous wireless networks.…”

“…This assessment is obtained by combining the technical architecture for train-to-wayside communication with Quality of Service (QoS) over heterogeneous wireless networks from [4] and a technoeconomic model based on [5], whose cost model comes from industry data. Savings by resource sharing are estimated and the costs are distributed between actors, what is critical information for the business models of the involved actors.…”