Siemens Mobility selects Softil for next-gen LTE-R

Siemens Mobility and Softil have announced an agreement which, they say, will see them develop a range of next-generation communications solutions for use in LTE-Railway (LTE-R) as well as MCPTT metro applications such as underground railways, trams and buses.

LTE-R is the foundation for the railway variant of the 3GPP MCC over LTE/5G (MCPTT) standard.

The companies say the solutions developed will support the Future Railway Mobile Communications Systems (FRMCS) of the International Union of Railways (UIC) to build a Global Rail Traffic Management System (GRTMS).

“The rail industry is at the forefront of the mission-critical communication revolution … GSM-R-based systems have already been replaced by LTE-R solutions in Asia Pacific (APAC) and the trend is expected to widen across other markets in 2019/20,” said Pierre Hagendorf, Softil’s CEO.

“With Softil’s BEEHD client framework at the heart of Siemens Mobility’s next-generation LTE-R offerings, the rail industry will have a range of supremely reliable solutions packed with rich communication features.”

Under FRMCS and GRTMS, the new railway radio system must guarantee interoperability with GSM-R while ensuring three key provisions:

• Secure voice comms between driver and signaller, emergency and group calls, real-time video imagery and the intelligent bearer for European Train Control System (ETCS) and Automatic Train Operation (ATO) operations.
• Track condition monitoring, Connected Driver Advisory System (C-DAS), on-train telemetry, maintenance of non-critical infrastructure, non-critical real-time video, wireless communication for on-train-staff.
• Passenger information systems, passenger entertainment and passenger communication connections.
   

“The rail industry is facing unprecedented challenges in handling increasing numbers of passengers and freight traffic loads,” said Russell Clarke, General Manager, Mobile Communications at Siemens Mobility.

“After careful analysis of market options, Siemens Mobility chose Softil’s BEEHD client technology as the outstanding Software Development Kit (SDK) for our developers to build best-of-breed LTE-R communications solutions for the rail industry in the shortest time frame.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Tierney

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