3G HSPA for Broadband Communications with High Speed Vehicles

This paper presents a proof of concept for a continuous superior quality Broadband Vehicular communication system enabled through 3G HSPA in very high speed mobility scenarios (beyond 300 km/h), suitable for telemetry applications in trains, emergency vehicles and motor sport events. The system is quite unique as radio transmission for telemetry services under extreme speed conditions requires not only superior Quality of Service guarantees but must also be able to satisfy these performance requirements under extreme and arbitrarily demanding environments as are typical during any e.g. Formula 1 racing event. Issues related to the Doppler Effect and abrupt changes of the serving HSPA channel are analyzed and addressed here. Conclusions show how a special 3G network design can help to mitigate Doppler Effect impacts. The processes carried out by both the UE and the network to cope with this high speed environment has proven essential to sustain the service in these conditions, as it has the use of suitable receiver Types in the UE. Using derived guidelines and conclusions, a unique system has been developed, built and tested in a Formula 1 environment with very promising results.