Study on feasibility of SATCOM for railway communication

Final Report
Main Cost Sensitivities
SATCOM
TERRESTRIAL
IM
• Narrowband vs Broadband
• Maintenance coefficient
• Re-use Factor
• Narrowband vs Broadband
• Base Stations Cost
• Maintenance coefficient
RU
• Narrowband vs Broadband
• Value added tariffs / service
demand
• Terminal Device Prices
• Maintenance coefficient
• Voice vs no Voice
• Terminal Device Prices
• Value added tariffs / service
demand
• Maintenance coefficient
• Voice vs no Voice
Figure 89: Sensitivity matrix
The most significant sensitivity of the analysis arises from service type chosen, broadband or
narrowband. This is amplified by the strong uncertainty in the need to deploy additional LTE ground
stations to support broadband implementations at high frequency and data rates.
For SATCOM solutions, the price of terminals is the main driver for the costs due to its very high value,
particularly when considering broadband, an option which severely increases the device price.
As far as terrestrial solutions are concerned, the main parameters affecting the costs are the
previously mentioned deployment factor for the base stations (which is of a higher order of magnitude
for broadband applications due to the high frequency and high data rate factor, but still exists in
narrowband solutions due to the uncertainty in the upgrade costs from base stations to transition from
GSM-R to LTE); as well as the base station cost and the total number of stations, which is dependent
on the frequency at which the solution functions.
Another high-sensitivity parameter is the maintenance coefficient that determines the operational
expenses required to maintain all the infrastructure and terminals.
Furthermore, considering voice as a requirement has a strong impact on cost, but is also an important
influence in technical compliance for the SATCOM solutions.
Finally, the value-added tariffs/service usage parameter is the only variable that generates revenues to
compensate for the overall investment, and is therefore the parameter with highest impact in the
sensitivity analysis.
9.3.5 Assessment and compliance matrix of the non-technical and non-functional criteria
This section is devoted to identifying whether the proposed solution complies with the non-technical
requirements or criteria.
Table 38 shows the non-technical and non-functional criteria defined previously in section §5.
Doc.Nº: SRAIL-FNR-010-IND
Edit./Rev.: 1/1
Date: 16/02/2017
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