Analysis of the coupling path between transient EM interferences produced by the catenary-pantograph contact and on-board railway communication antennas

An in-depth analysis of the electromagnetic interferences generated by trains requires a better understanding of specific railway interference sources. Interferences due to the losses of contact between catenary and pantograph are among them. This paper presents a modeling methodology proposed to analyze the effect of pantograph arcing on GSM-R antennas located on the train roof. The model was developed using the CST™ microwave studio tool. Comparisons were performed with experimental results to assess the quality of the simulation results. Finally, an analysis was carried out in order to discriminate the couplings between the GSM-R antenna and the different components of the model.