Peak Intelligence · •Nokia N95 being a current example • Intel announcement will shake things up! –Intel to drop 3G on laptop chipsets in favour of WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) •

Copyright © 2007 Peak Intelligence Ltd

Peak IntelligenceTelecommunications, Systems and Operations Consulting

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The Future for TerrestrialWireless Services for the next

Five Years:Myths and Realities for WiFi on

TrainsIan Beeby

Train Communications Systems 2007

London, 6th June 2007



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Objectives:

• The relentless march of new terminals• What new wireless standards are on the horizon?• What will drive new services – a technical view• Spectrum resources planning and management• What really is 4G?• Making wireless services on trains accessible – the

difference between high-speed and suburbanservices, from a service delivery perspective

• On-train content• Mobile services on trains: are they going forwards or

backwards?



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Terminal technology

• Mobile ‘phones are improving– Many multi-band dual-system (GSM & UMTS)

terminals are now available

• Smart-phones– Integrated WiFi now commonplace

• Laptops– Integrated WiFi standard

– May soon have integrated WiMAX



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Terminal technology (continued)

• Mobile ‘phone operators seem to be concerned about too muchflexibility– WiFi enabled ‘phones and PDAs

• Too hard to support• Risk of cannibalisation

– Resulting in crippleware on the market• Nokia N95 being a current example

• Intel announcement will shake things up!– Intel to drop 3G on laptop chipsets in favour of WiMAX (IEEE

802.16e)

• Battery life remains a big problem for hand-held terminals– Especially with WiFi enabled devices

• WiFi only ‘phones will become more sophisticated– Browser support for HotSpots is essential for user acceptance



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Standards Evolution

• WiFi:– IEEE 802.11n - super-fast data-link ~120Mbit/s

• Reports today suggest that this is very short range

• WiMAX:– IEEE 802.16e - high-speed mobility enabled services

• Currently in early stage deployment• Vehicle speeds up to 200km/h by end of ‘07• Potentially useable at speeds in excess of 400km/h• WiMAX Forum’s answer to 3GPP LTE

• 3G:– HSDPA/HSUPA

• 2Mbit/s plus high-speed mobile data services• xDSL replacement capability• Better at vehicle speeds than conventional WCDMA

– 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution)• Personal Mobile Broadband



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New Service Drivers

• Computing power– Still a bottleneck for most portable devices

• Display technology– Display limitations make many services inaccessible

• Data input technology– Touch screens, handwriting recognition…

• Battery life– ‘I can do it but I can’t keep it going for long…’

• Service accessibility– Many web-sites don’t cater properly or well for small terminals

• Security– Managing business services with multiple terminals is an issue– Certificate management in such environments is complex– Some devices/services just don’t bother (sadly)

• BlackBerry without BES• AOL



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New Service Drivers (continued)

• The World is waiting for the iPhone– Cool!– Proper operating system on a small device– Serious computing and storage capability

• This could make many proprietary mobile‘phone network services redundant overnight– iPhone users can access all of their normal

business or leisure services as normal

• In some ways we are almost there now…– The MDA/Wizard/XDA type of smart-phones can

be tweaked to behave very much like an iPhone(!)

– CEBIT ‘07 was full of iPhone precedents…



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• The World is waiting for the iPhone– Cool!– Proper operating system on a small device– Serious computing and storage capability

• This could make many proprietary mobile‘phone network services redundant overnight– iPhone users can access all of their normal

business or leisure services as normal

• In some ways we are almost there now…– The MDA/Wizard/XDA type of smart-phones can

be tweaked to behave very much like an iPhone(!)

– CEBIT ‘07 was full of iPhone precedents…



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• Ubiquity of connectivity drives usage– GSM ubiquity has lowered cost of terminals and usage

– WiFi chip-sets in laptops (driven by Intel Centrino™) hasdriven up usage worldwide

• 15% attach rate to VAS in 2003 has risen to 95% in 2007

• Intel now driving WiMAX chip-sets in Laptops– Announcement of Intel dumping 3G for WiMAX indicates

strong expectation that WiMAX is the basis for nextgeneration nomadic data*

– WiMAX/WiFi combo-card availability ~2008

* Source: Flynn, David, ‘Intel Dumps 3G for WiMAX on Centrino’, 19th April 2007, CNET: http://news.cnet.co.uk/networking/0,39029686,49289408,00.htm



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Spectrum Resources

• The world is not running out of spectrum… BUT:– Historic differences around the world have led to a range of

spectrum allocations for new mobile and broadband wirelessservices

• Key to coping with this are:– Regulators working together to unify spectrum allocations

• A major strength of premium mobile technologies (GSM, 3G)

– Designers developing multi-band terminals

• WiFi/WiMAX– Unlicenced bands - 2.4GHz, 5GHz - these are licenced in some

countries– Licenced bands - higher powers permitted - vary worldwide

• 2.3GHz, 2.5GHz, 3.5GHz



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Spectrum Resources

• 2305 - 2320MHz, 2345 - 2360MHz - US WCS• 2400 - 2480MHz - Unlicenced (actual allocations vary slightly)

– Many Eurasian countries require permits to use this spectrum)

• 2500 - 2600MHz, 2700 - 2900MHz - MMDS• 3300 - 3400MHz• 3400 - 3600MHz• 4700 - 4900MHz - Possible allocation in Asia• 5150 - 5350MHz - Band ‘A’ 5GHz - indoor only in UK/EU• 5470 - 5725MHz - Band ‘B’ 5GHz - Shared with WiFi• 5725 - 5850MHz - Band ‘C’ 5GHz - ‘lightly licenced’ in UK

Key:BLUE - Initial WiMAXRED - Future WiMAX



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Making Services Accessible

• Simplicity– Don’t make it too hard to gain access– Don’t make it too expensive

• Ubiquity– Don’t require any special software or terminal

• Useability– Service must be workable– Throughput, delay, few interruptions

• Support (not necessarily a help-desk…)– Laptop power is important

• even though laptop battery life is improving

– Simple user guide (multi-lingual!)



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Making Services Accessible (cont’d)

• Minimum necessary service support– E-mail

– Web-browsing

– VPN (essential for many corporate users)

• Nice to have today, may be essential tomorrow– Bandwidth sufficient for file transfer

– Multimedia content• Local or cached

– VoIP support (or capability)• Skype, Vonage etc



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High Speed

• >200km/h (up to >500km/h)– Tend to be longer distance journeys– More time to get the laptop out…– Probably a more demanding audience

• Data link issues are more severe– Track-side technology is expensive

• Low link delay• Possibility of providing tunnel coverage

– Satellite technology available now• Higher link delay• More complex on-board systems• Flexible bandwidth• Tunnel coverage tricky



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Low Speed/Suburban

• Passenger density may be higher– Is there room to use a laptop?

• Journeys tend to be shorter– Is there time to get the laptop out and boot it up?

• Technical obstacles are different– Communication to train should be easier at lower speeds– Higher density means more spectrum usage issues

• More trains/users in a smaller space

• Services required by users are likely to be different– Simple web-browsing/e-mail may suffice– Devices used may be limited by circumstances

• Smart-phones & PDAs



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Underground/Metro

• Passenger density issues will be higher– Some metro services have good mobile communications

services (GSM & GPRS…)• Hong Kong MTA, Many German U-Bahn networks, Stockholm,

Amsterdam etc

– Passenger acceptance of basic mobile ‘phone services ishigh

• Technology issues in tunnels not negligible– Not so much velocity related– Modulation and coding needs to be carefully selected

• OFDM could work well due to multipath capabilities

– Cost could be high for limited return



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What really is 4G?

• Mobile ‘phone technology evolution– Zero’th generation - analogue operator connected services

– First generation - analogue automatically dialled services• AMPS, TACS, NMT, C-NETZ

– Second generation - digital mobile telecommunications• D-AMPS, GSM, CDMA

– 2.5G - enhanced 2nd generation systems• GPRS, EVDO

– Third generation - end-to-end ip systems (in principle)• EDGE, UMTS, CDMA 2000, HSDPA, HSUPA



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So 4G is…

• The thing after 3G…???• Wikipedia says:

– ‘The 4G will be a fully IP-based integrated system of systems and networkof networks achieved after the convergence of wired and wireless networksas well as computer, consumer electronics, communication technology, andseveral other convergences that will be capable of providing 100 Mbit/s and1 Gbit/s, respectively, in outdoor and indoor environments with end-to-endQoS and high security, offering any kind of services anytime, anywhere, ataffordable cost and one billing.’1

• And:– ‘According to 4G working groups, the infrastructure and the terminals will

have almost all the standards from 2G to 3G implemented. Theinfrastructure will however only be packet based, all-IP. The system will alsoserve as an open platform where the new innovations can go with it. Someof the standards which pave the way for 4G systems are WiMax, WiBro,and the proposed 3GPP Long Term Evolution work-in-progresstechnologies such as HSOPA.’

1: Young Kyun, Kim; Prasad, Ramjee. 4G Roadmap and Emerging Communication Technologies. Artech House, pp 12-13. ISBN 1-58053-931-9



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…and…

• Kupetz and Brown1 referring to the DARPA definitionof 4G surmised that– ‘Lets define 4G as wireless ad-hoc peer to peer networking’

– Their view was that 4G would enable users to contribute tothe network

• For train operators, this could be rather significant– Rollins & Brown discuss the ‘4G Car’ permitting data to be

transmitted via other vehicles to the user

– In effect, this is similar to the type of network being createdtoday except that the user terminal does not contribute to thenetwork at all

1: Kupetz, A.H. and Brown, K.T., ‘4G - A Look into the Future of Wireless Communications’, Rollins Business Journal, Jan-Mar 2004



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…which means…

• 4G is personal mobile broadband…• The beginnings of ‘4G’ are almost here

– WiFi mesh networks already facilitate wide area connectivity– WiMAX 802.16e already embodies some of the principles– 3GPP LTE also paves the way

• But this is still some way off…

• For train systems:– This may be of little consequence for at least 5 years– Terminal technology can be embraced by access point upgrades

on-board the train– Satellite technology such as DVB-S2 should enable >70Mbit/s

downlink so in principle 4G terminals could be supported on-trainwith comparable performance



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How is 4G going to arrive?

• WiMAX looks like a strong candidate today:– Sprint announced that it had selected mobile WiMAX for its

4G evolution in August 20061

– Intel have recently announced that it is dropping 3G supporton chipsets in favour of WiMAX2

• In any case, on-train services will still require someassistance in order to work for most rail routes– Although 3G LTE and WiMAX mobile will manage

propagation better than current technologies we still havelaws of Physics to contend with

• … watch this space…1: O’Shea, Dan, ‘What is 4G?’, TelephonyOnline, 10th August 2006, http://telephonyonline.com/wimax/commentary/what_4g_081006/

2: Flynn, David, ‘Intel Dumps 3G for WiMAX on Centrino’, CNET, 19th April 2007, http://news.cnet.co.uk/networking/0,39029686,49289408,00.htm



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On-Train Content

• Attractive to some users– Long journeys - plenty of time– Children - need distracting

• Cache vs stream over data-link– Movies– On-line games & role-playing systems

• Opportunity for revenue– Volo.TV as an active example

• Some content essential– Timetables– News/Weather– Destination information– Progress update



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On-Train Content (continued)

• Critical to distribute content dependent on user up-take– One server for a busy train will lead to bottlenecks– Flexible upgrade options might be best

• Important to understand the audience– No-point in storing content locally if audience requires

access to on-line role-playing servers• Not feasible to cache second-life!

– No point having movies if average journey time is 20minutes

• Short films, however, may be worthwhile

– Destination information useful on non-commuter routes



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On-Train Content (continued)

• Important to recognise the terminal capabilities– No point in distributing Wide-Screen HDTV to a palmtop– No point in distributing 10fps video to an HD capable laptop -

user experience will be poor

• Terminal recognition may have to be built-in to serversystems to enable the best user experience– It is difficult to be certain that the user can recognise the

capabilities of his terminal for himself– This is an area where the mobile telecommunications

industry can assist



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Are things improving?

What has changed?– Newer train carriages have increased screening so that use of terrestrial

technology on-board is becoming more difficult– Laptop battery life is improving

• Lack of on-board laptop power is becoming less critical

– More laptops are WiFi enabled (>>90% today)– More WiFi enabled PDAs and other devices are available

• More train operating companies are trialling and investigatingbroadband services– Many of them are here today– Some are rolling out as we speak

• In UK, several operators are offering on-board wireless services:– GNER– Southern Trains– Heathrow Express



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About Peak Intelligence:Peak Intelligence Ltd is a specialist technical andmanagement consultancy based in Derbyshire, UK

Peak Intelligence is currently working with a Europeanrailway company advising on the deployment ofbroadband on high-speed trains

Contact: Ian Beeby

Tel: +44 1629 733800Mob: +44 7717 220707E-mail: [email protected]: http://peak-intelligence.com

‘Trains Passing’ - Image: ijsendoorn (sxc.hu)

Documents

Peak Intelligence · •Nokia N95 being a current example • Intel announcement will shake things up! –Intel to drop 3G on laptop chipsets in favour of WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) •