Decoupled wireless network architecture for high-speed railway

Reliability and security are crucial considerations for future high-speed railway wireless communication networks which bear the train control information. With the decision by International Union of Railways (UIC) that the narrowband GSM-R (the global system for mobile communication for railway) will evolve to LTE-R (long term evolution for railway) to satisfy the access demands of passengers, capacity becomes another challenge. Taking all of the above into account, novel wireless network architecture for future LTE-R is proposed in this paper, targeting at capacity extension and security enhancement without any loss of reliability. The proposed network architecture is U-plane/C-plane decoupled, and the higher frequency bands with wider spectrum are employed. It may not only save huge infrastructure reconstruction cost but also guarantee the transmission reliability of train control information. The theoretical analysis and simulation reveal that, in this proposed network architecture, train control and passenger services are isolated thereby enhancing the security of train control system and much larger capacity can be supported. Moreover, some other research directions to meet the demands of future LTE-R are presented.