Project Summary

Ingram Networks is looking to improve Internet connectivity for rail passengers in Wales. It sets out to provide data transfer speeds up to 100 times faster than the fastest currently available solution. Improved connectivity for passengers offers the potential to improve the productivity and economy of the country, as well as increase passenger revenues and enable a reduction in subsidies.

Project Achievements

The project was successfully able to ‘bring the lab to the railway’ and conducted experimental millimetre wave communications at throughputs equating to greater than 50 gigabits per second for a full train configuration. These results were obtained at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) on a section of standard gauge branch line, using a Road/Rail Land Rover to represent the train.

Conclusions

The approach taken was valid, and increased throughputs were achievable as hoped. Further optimisation and refinement is necessary in order to realise the full potential, but TRL 4 has been achieved and concerns about the rail environment limiting performance do not appear to have been justified. The results fully justify subsequent investment in further development to progress beyond TRL 4.

Next Steps

Our next steps will be to further analyse the results generated from this useful study, and then integrate this technology growth path into our innovation plan for the future. Options for funding this include potential
Horizon Europe funding and/or private equity investment.