A thesis completed for the Digirail project used artificial intelligence to analyse the differences in performance between the multi-channel routers of five different manufacturers. The results show that one operating logic is superior to the others, confirming the Digirail project’s analysis that the use of commercial radio networks for railway communications is a cost-effective solution. The thesis also provides valuable insights for future railway communication solutions, as the operating logic of the future FRMCS multi-channel router has not yet been decided.
A recent master’s thesis commissioned by the Digirail project provides new information on the use of commercial radio networks in Finland’s Digirail project. The study compared the differences in performance of multi-channel routers from four railway vendors and one other manufacturer by using machine learning and advanced data analysis to analyse their field tests conducted in Finland.
The results of the thesis show that the operating logic of one of the manufacturer’s multi-channel router is superior to the others. This operational logic in question achieved top performance with 100% compliance to the Digirail’s target value. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that acceptable performance levels can be maintained even with reduced network availability.
“The results obtained demonstrate that Packet Replication with Multi-Path TCP implementation has a consistent top performance and compliance to the Digirail’s target value, which makes it a viable and quick alternative to FRMCS. Moreover, the simulation results provided valuable insight into the resilience of the operation mode with reduced network availability, offering practical performance for railway communication systems ,” says Nardos Estifanos, writer of the thesis.
“The study confirms that the use of public mobile networks is a cost-effective and fast solution for the future of railway communications, supporting the Digirail project’s goal of moving towards a more modern and truly cost-effective communications system,” says Simon Indola, Development Manager for the Digirail project.
The thesis has also attracted EU-level interest
Railway communication systems are transitioning from GSM-R (2G) technology towards the new FRMCS (Future Railway Mobile Communication System) solution, which presents unique challenges particularly in Finland where GSM-R has already been decommissioned. Unlike other countries, Finland has been granted an EU exemption to use Finland’s Public Authority Network (Virve) for railway communications instead of a GSM-R network. The exemption is granted until the FRMCS is deployed.
Instead of building a completely new network infrastructure in Finland for the deployment of the new EU railway radio network for traffic control purposes only, Digirail has explored the deployment of commercial 4/5G networks in accordance with FRMCS requirements using the connections of three different mobile network operators.
The operating logic of the future FRMCS multi-channel router has not yet been decided, so the thesis provides valuable information for standardisation.
“The International Union of Railways (UIC) only accepts tested solutions for the future Technical Specification (TSI), so in this respect, this thesis is particularly significant. The thesis has also attracted the interest of the European Commission and ERA, which underlines its potential to influence the future railway communication system,” Simon Indola says.
The thesis has been published online. You can read it in here.