Study on feasibility of SATCOM for railway communication

Final Report
Survey on operational communications (study for the evolution of the railway communications
system), Ref: 37760-496v04 [RD-17]
CCS TSI (Technical specifications for interoperability) – EU Decision 2012/88/EU
CRT-NONT-3 The proposed SATCOM system for the future railway communications architecture
shall provide at least an acceptable level of cost efficiency, taking into account full lifecycle costs
covering the full lifespan of the selected solution, and as long as technical and functional
requirements allow for this option.
RATIONALE
Costs are a key decision driver for the selection of a new communication system. The future
system shall have at least an ―Acceptable‖ cost efficiency. This is due to the fact that, despite
costs not being the key driver for such a system, it should not have a worse costs performance
than the existing GSM-R system.
The cost-efficiency of the system has been defined according to several key influencing factors
which have an impact on the CapEx and OpEx values.
Use of Commercial Off the Shelf equipment: The use of commercial equipment allows for a
reduction of the costs of both procuring and operating equipment.
Dedicated infrastructure/Potential for added value services. The potential for sharing
infrastructure with other systems and/or providing additional services which could be
monetized.
Duration of deployment: The longer the deployment time the less time infrastructure is made
use of and longer that legacy systems have to be kept in place.
Cost-Efficiency
High
Acceptable
Description
A fully COTS based system allows for a reduction in both CapEx
and OpEx due to larger volumes, higher industrial competition
and resulting lower costs both for infrastructure and systems
investments as well as for direct running costs.
The use of infrastructure (spectrum, terminals) which is shared
with other services and allows for direct revenue from the system.
This includes commercial services such as passenger
communications.
Deployment time of 5 years or less for average Member State.
A modified off the shelf system allows for leveraging from existing
standards, but due to the COTS solution not fulfilling all necessary
requirements, requires certain specific modifications.
Some infrastructure can be leveraged to provide additional
services outside of the ones required.
Deployment time of approximately 10 years for average Member
State.
Doc.Nº: SRAIL-FNR-010-IND
Edit./Rev.: 1/1
Date: 16/02/2017
Page 201 of 285