Unsurprisingly, SBB will rely on 5G in the future for its mobile communications, according to NZZ am Sonntag. In regarding a decade from now, the transport company is expected to fully transition to the latest mobile technology, which is expected to evolve to the following standards.
But why this change? Maintaining a specific Natel or Natel rail type network is increasingly difficult today, particularly for maintenance issues since all operators are gradually abandoning 2G. The parts might gradually run out. This technology is obsolete and does not allow massive connection of objects, such as 5G, in particular for maintenance.
Additional antennas along the tracks
In this article, it is regarding 1800 antennas deployed along the tracks. A test will also be carried out with the various national operators, who have all reinforced their networks along the railway lines. It is a question of adapting to the new European standard Future Railway Mobile Communication System or FRMCS, which must also allow the massive exchange of data, always more important.
All the same, some “technical details” still have to be settled on the network itself, because 5G offers very interesting potential for both transport companies and security services: this is “network slicing”, in other words, “network salami”. At one time, equipment manufacturers widely communicated on this potential.
What technical deployment?
Thanks to this possibility, an operator can theoretically assign a specific capacity to a third party and guarantee it a certain quality of service, essential for CFF, for example. In other words, even if a whole train tries to call or surf, there is still enough bandwidth for the train operator.
And this is where the right questions will have to be asked when deploying these antennas… Why not let the operators take charge of this network by using the frequencies specific to CFF? In any case, the equipment manufacturer Ericsson (see its site), a partner of Swisscom, is in charge of the deployment which will take years with the coexistence with the current 2G.
Xavier Studer
