Wireless communication solutions for trains and railway

Westermo offers a complete range of industrial wireless data communication solutions for Train to Ground, Wireless Inter-Carriage links, Passenger Wi-Fi, and Remote Access applications. The Ibex series of WLAN & LTE devices are designed to ensure reliable high-speed data communication even in extreme operational environments.

Wireless train to trackside link with Westermo WLAN products

Reliable train-to-trackside communication is required for many applications: CCTV, Public Wi-Fi, maintenance and monitoring, and VoIP passenger information systems. Westermo's wireless train to trackside link provides high-speed, reliable, and continuous communication links for these applications. Westermo has a long history of designing and delivering IEEE 802.11 technology-based products for the railway industry and its applications. Our train-to-trackside solution is an onboard and wayside solution that can optionally provide seamless roaming and redundancy for the most demanding needs.

Train to trackside

Onboard connectivity is becoming a very important factor for the public transportation sector. Whether the connectivity is driven by the needs of the passengers, security, or operations, everybody is benefiting.

Passengers can stay connected to their social networks and the operations and maintenance can become much more straightforward. Real-time predictive maintenance enables access to all the needed data which is the first step toward improvement.

Westermo offers WLAN based solution for train-to-ground communication. The system supports stationary connection at depots/stations and continuous coverage installation along the complete track.

Solution highlights

Standard IEE802.11 based
Fast handover between the access points with low latency and jitter
Continuous coverage with high-user data using multiple MIMO data streams
Enables redundant and aggregated networks up to 460 Mbit/s per train
Supports security features (802.1X)
Configurable operation in 2.4 or 5 GHz channels
Support 24/7 operation in DFS frequencies with AP-5312F as an access point
No license requirements

Wireless inter-carriage link for train coupling

In refurbishment projects, there is typically no possibility to install additional cables for high-speed inter-carriage connectivity. Westermo WLAN products offer an optimized solution for high-speed wireless inter-carriage coupling avoiding the need for additional cable installation.

Westermo has a long history of designing and delivering IEEE 802.11 technology-based products for the railway industry and its applications. Westermo wireless carriage coupling solution offers easy installation, high-speed communications, reliability, and optional redundancy features for all kinds of trains.

Wireless carriage coupling solution

Increasingly intelligent transportation solutions are requiring IP-based train backbones with high data throughput. However, especially in refurbishment projects, it is often very difficult or even impossible to add additional cables between the train carriages or compositions. As an alternative for additional cables, Westermo offers a wireless carriage coupling solution.

Wireless carriage coupling requires an intelligent automatic bridged connection establishment between the carriages. It is important that the connection is only established between the carriages that are facing each other. Especially important it is to avoid erroneous connections to carriages that are located at the nearby tracks.

Solution highlights

Automatic coupling and decoupling process with easy configuration
Reliable location for link establishment during coupling
Automatic failure recovery
Completely transparent cable replacement feature
Support of advanced encryptions (WPA2-PSK, 802.1X)
Configurable operation in 2,4 or 5-GHz channels
Data rate up to 450 Mbit/s with 380 Mbit/s user payload
Redundant and aggregated systems are possible
Supports operation on 5GHz outdoor DFS frequencies
Resistant against movement and vibrations also during driving

Westermo's high-density onboard Wi-Fi network

Reliable wireless internet availability has become a vital part of our lives. People are used to being online all the time; at home, in the office, at shopping centers or restaurants, and even during commuting – being online and having access to personal information feeds is expected during the whole day.

Westermo has a long history of designing and delivering IEEE 802.11 technology-based products for the railway industry and its applications. Westermo onboard Wi-Fi products enable innovative real-time solutions for internet access, travel information, security, and entertainment.

Connectivity on board

Onboard connectivity is becoming a very important factor for the users choosing to travel by public transport. This connectivity is already offering true value-adding services for passengers such as onboard media services, for example, Live TV broadcasts or real-time journey information for the passengers.

Also, the operations and maintenance are benefiting the available Wi-FI network. Real-time access to databases enables better customer journey and allows uploading of data that can be used also for example for predictive maintenance needs.

Many current public Wi-Fi network solutions are not designed for high-density applications with multiple users and other wireless networks such as train-to-ground (LTE, WLAN) nearby. Westermo's high-density Wi-Fi products solve these problems.

Key Features

Provides high-speed Wi-Fi coverage cloud on a train
1 or 2 Access Points in each carriage
Easy to install: Access Points can be powered by PoE – a small single antenna for dual-band use
Real user data rates up to 1500Mbps in each carriage
Multi-User MIMO allows even more clients to be served simultaneously
Concurrent operation in 2.4 and/or 5 GHz channels
Multi-SSID and VLAN support
Intelligent client steering and airtime fairness
Advanced encryptions (WPA2-PSK, 802.1x)
Supports 5GHz DFS Outdoor frequencies as well
Extended Service Set (ESS)

Remote access over the mobile network

Westermo offers remote access solutions to meet the growing demand for continuous coverage onboard trains, and support applications such as data offloading between stations, monitoring, and remote maintenance access.

The Ibex series features secure and reliable LTE routers that ensure reliable, continuous, high-speed remote access data communications in extreme operational environments, connecting the moving train with the signaling control center over a mobile network.

Real-time data offers many types of solutions for preventative maintenance and control where faults and deviations can be detected and rectified early leading to cost savings and increased safety. Continuous connectivity offers solutions for safety, positioning, efficiency as well as passenger comfort applications.

Solution highlights