High Speed Transport Networks for Rail and Road require 'Gigabit' high speed telecommunications connectivity to deliver future services including autonomous control, CCTV monitoring and passenger internet connectivity. Current wireless connectivity is currently limited to typically less than 50 Mbps per train due to poor mobile network coverage. Previous UK Government studies on future 5G deployments by the UK's National Infrastructure Commission '2016 - Connected Future', supported by OFCOMs subsequent 2018 study on spectrum for DCMS and OFCOM highlighted Transportation as the number one '5G deployment use case' for adding value to the UK economy. The conclusion from the OFCOM study was that only wireless spectrum in the 26, 39 and 66-71 GHz bands has the capacity to deliver services for the 'Gigabit' connectivity to meet the projected demand for \>1 Gbit per train from Y2025\. Consequently, Blu Wireless has invested in the development of 'state of the art' mmWave telecommunications equipment specifically designed to deliver 2-4 Gbps per train. This equipment operates in the 57-71 GHz license exempt spectrum and is currently being deployed on train networks in the UK (South West Rail with First Group) and USA (CALTRAIN in California). However, deployment costs, timescale and complexity for such deployments are dominated by the need for trackside fibre optic ducting, cable and associated switching equipment. This project therefore concerns the development of mmWave wireless trackside backhaul equipment to replace & complement trackside fibre for the Rail market. The benefit of this approach is a significant reduction in installation cost (80%) associated with trackside fibre. The proposed solution will employ high power (max +55 dBmi) mmWave transmitters operating in the license exempt 66-71 GHz spectrum to connect trackside nodes on a point-to-point basis at data rates in excess of 3 Gbps. Extended Communications protocol stack software will also be developed to support multi-level Quality of Service (QoS) to support multiple levels of traffic priority -- specifically Signalling, Operations & Maintenance, CCTV and Internet on Board. Commercial exploitation from the project will include deployment on UK rail networks, export to EU and US networks and standardisation within the FRMCS (Future Railway Mobile Communication System). This proposal aligns with the 'Network of Networks' objective as it delivers Gigabit connectivity to 'hard to reach' railway infrastructure where mobile 5G networks are not able to deliver Gigabit connectivity.

This proposal considers testing, evaluating and enhancing the performance of 5G Vehicle to Infrastructure communications in a vehicular environment and in particular in a motorway-speed scenario. 5G mmWave communications will be explored for high data rate delivery and a feasibility study to evaluate the technology for mobility will be performed. Using Road Side Units (RSUs) spaced regularly along the motorway or road, data rates in the order of gigabits per second are anticipated. To overcome the high path loss at mmWave frequencies, adaptive beamforming will be used to focus signals to and from the vehicle. The project will perform real world radio channel measurements leading to data trials using a suitable demonstration system.

The project will develop a technology that combines low latency video compression combined with an appropriate error correction technology that provides a robust streaming of real time virtual reality pixel stream over WiGig wireless at data rates upto 8Gbps. This will be demonstrated in principle and practice using a combination of software and FPGAs at lower rates/video resolutions in order to find the optimum design "sweet spot" for compression, error correction and low latency.