Study on feasibility of SATCOM for railway communication

Final Report
In order to successfully deploy a SATCOM solution as part of the multi-technology railway
architecture, several aspects have to be considered, such as the regulatory framework, railway
certifications, the use of communication standards, geographical constraints and some other technical
implications because of introducing SATCOM technologies into the railway field and in a multitechnology
architecture. It is even of relevance to consider the SATCOM market interest to offer
products and services for the railway domain, since without this interest the previous aspects can
hardly be achieved.
Finally, and from the economic point of view of satellite solutions compared with terrestrial ones, it is
worth mentioning that two main scenarios can be analysed: Brownfield (when considering terrestrial
solutions deployed re-using current GSM-R infrastructure) and Greenfield (when deploying future
terrestrial solutions from scratch). In this sense, SATCOM economic feasibility raises when deploying
a railway communication system in a new line (Greenfield), since it is much cheaper (in terms of
CAPEX) and faster to deploy than terrestrial solutions. This is because of ground infrastructure is not
required in SATCOM solutions (except for those areas to be covered by alternatives terrestrial
solutions due to the lack of satellite coverage).
Doc.Nº: SRAIL-FNR-010-IND
Edit./Rev.: 1/1
Date: 16/02/2017
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