Study on feasibility of SATCOM for railway communication

Final Report
Figure 86 shows a detailed breakdown of the sensitivity analysis per solution.
Base Stations Re-use Factor
Voice as a Requirement
TETRA
LTE
GSMR
-2000 -1500 -1000 -500 0 500 1000 1500 2000
NPV 2040 delta (M€)
Iridium NEXT
Inmarsat 4
GSMR
LTE
GEO/C-band
TETRA
MEO/C-band
-1600 -1400 -1200 -1000 -800 -600 -400 -200 0
NPV 2040 delta (M€)
-10% 10%
No
Yes
Terminal Prices
Communication Tariffs
LTE
GEO/C-band
GSMR
Iridium NEXT
Inmarsat 4
TETRA
MEO/C-band
-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400
NPV 2040 delta (M€)
-10% 10%
Inmarsat 4
Iridium NEXT
TETRA
MEO/C-band
GSMR
GEO/C-band
LTE
-150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150
NPV 2040 delta (M€)
-10% 10%
Figure 86: Sensitivity analysis results for narrowband solutions
In the realm of narrowband solutions, voice is the parameter that induces the highest sensitivity. It has
an especially great influence on SATCOM narrowband solutions Iridium NEXT and Inmarsat 4.
Furthermore, not only does voice impose a strict cost penalization, but it also adds complexity to the
technical solution.
The second most sensitive parameter is the re-use factor which is directly proportional to the number
of stations required to provide the service. Therefore, TETRA, the technology operating at lowest
frequency and having more base stations, is the most influenced by this parameter.
Terminal prices hold third position in the ranking. Reducing this cost will benefit mainly terrestrial
solutions which are currently the ones with highest cost per terminal apart from broadband services,
which are not assessed here.
Lastly, the value of the communication tariffs has a higher impact on Inmarsat 4 and Iridium NEXT,
these two options being the strongest competitors to terrestrial solutions.
9.3.4.3 Broadband solutions analysis
In this section the results of the sensitivity analysis for each technology are presented taking only
broadband services into account.
Doc.Nº: SRAIL-FNR-010-IND
Edit./Rev.: 1/1
Date: 16/02/2017
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