GSM-R Railway Network Monitoring and Reporting

GSM-R

GSM-R is an increasingly popular global standard for railway communication networks based on the Global System for Mobile Communication, GSM.

Nexus Telecom has helped mobile network operators to monitor GSM networks for many years and has developed an entire portfolio of products for all challenges a railway operator encounters in the GSM-R network. Nexus Telecom builds and implements solutions that are based on proven and mature products. Thanks to its wide portfolio, Nexus Telecom has numerous modules to customize solutions for very small to very extensive GSM-R networks.

Services Challenges

Controlling high speed trains and ensuring communication between them are very demanding tasks for a radio network. Railway operators require extremely reliable networks to operate their trains safely and need to monitor and keep track of the network's performance. Nexus Telecom offers solutions that provide detailed answers to an operator's exacting information needs.

Nexus Telecom's solutions provide graphical and tabular information indicating:

Quality of Service Performance

The reports display customizable key performance indicators for the services along the network, rail line, or for each radio block controller. Call success ratios for each train indicate the quality and set-up time of services.

GSM-R Cell Performance

Monitoring and reporting call signaling from each train passing along the GSM-R Radio Cell locations provides fast and early identification of radio cells which have a degraded call quality performance. This is essential to maintenance of a high service quality, ultimately ensuring secure train communications.

Train Call Performance

Continuous monitoring helps identify when calls regularly drop from the same train, an indication of potential problems with the train rather than the cells. Although trains have redundant hardware, this type of service quality degradation requires immediate attention.

ETCS

Nexus Telecom does not only monitor the GSM layer, but can monitor and generate multiple reports on the ETCS system. ETCS is a subsystem that controls trains through automatic messages sent from machines to machines. Monitoring those messages makes it possible to identify problems with an individual balise on a track or the equipment of a train.