Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Train Talk: Going 5G with FRMCS
25 Plays26 days ago
In this episode, we dive into the transformative power of 5G in the railway industry. From enabling real-time data for autonomous trains to revolutionizing passenger connectivity and operational efficiency, 5G is set to redefine how rail systems operate.
We explore:
- Why now is the right time for 5G
- The timeline for adoption
- The emerging opportunity for telecom operators
- Lessons learned from this market
Recommended
Transcript
Intro
Introduction to FRMCS
00:00:08
Pablo Tomasi
So welcome back to the Telco Drift. And today are going discuss why everyone loves train or why that everyone should love trains.
00:00:18
Pablo Tomasi
And we're going to focus ah on FRMCS, so the role throw that 5G plays in there, what are the synergies, applications, but you know from a strategic perspective, why this is an interesting market for telcos partners to to have a look at.
00:00:31
Pablo Tomasi
So I'll try to keep this within 10 minutes, which I got some feedback, surprisingly, about the podcast. And I see that 10 minutes is the right amount of time. ah For those that are you know haven't met yet, I'm Pablo Tomasi. I'm an independent analyst.
00:00:46
Pablo Tomasi
So a few details to get started.
Transition from GSM-R to FRMCS
00:00:49
Pablo Tomasi
I i assume that if you're clicking on this, you probably like already trains and you know what FMCS is. But for for those that are not familiar,
00:00:57
Pablo Tomasi
That is a future rail mobile communication system and it's a new standard for communication systems that will replace existing GSMR. um And the the cool thing about FRAMCS, the reason no why this is like so important, and potentially so important for you know the telco ecosystem is that it will use 5G technology at its foundation.
00:01:20
Pablo Tomasi
So you can think of 5G as sort of the underlying platform and on top of it there is the FRMCS standards, specifications for for the various applications.
00:01:32
Pablo Tomasi
um Now, interestingly, it is on top of 5G, right? So technically, FRMCS is pure agnostic, so you could use other connectivity tech.
Infrastructure Overhaul and Vendor Opportunities
00:01:45
Pablo Tomasi
uh now FRMCS is designed as a component of the european rail traffic management system which is currently rolled out and it will replace GSM-R which is you know the existing urban comm system why why this is needed to be fair let's not try to make something straightforward complicated GSM-R an old tech uh that's been a around for like 20 years or so, it served its purpose.
00:02:14
Pablo Tomasi
However, we're thinking where the you know rail world operator rail operators needs to go next. It's about having that sort of larger set of devices, larger set of data sources and information to drive the sort of, there's always a vision of sort of autonomous operation in one way or another.
00:02:35
Pablo Tomasi
Now, in terms of timeline, the third set of specifications should be completed by 2027. So there's an expectation from 2028 to start the rollout.
00:02:46
Pablo Tomasi
There's going to be some overlap, quite a long overlap. between FRMCS gsmr in terms of the people that are involved in this a lot of standardization people but interestingly so there is the international union of railways and then there's that see there is 3GPP gpp a bunch of people uh spectrum wise yeah we can can touch on that because it's gonna be interesting later on you have this auto 900 megahertz or 1900 at least for for europe um you know Everything seems pretty straightforward. The reality is that FMCS requires a complete overall of the infrastructure, the network infrastructure that Rails have.
00:03:25
Pablo Tomasi
And that's why it's not just about their having that 5G deployable, it's about redeploying everything for the Rails operator. And that's why a lot of vendors and few telcos are really looking at this opportunity.
00:03:38
Pablo Tomasi
ah Of course, there are some tests on their ways, but you can easily find them online, so I'm not going to spend too much time on that, like MORANE 2 projects so on and so forth.
Enhancing Rail Operations with FRMCS
00:03:47
Pablo Tomasi
Now, let's look something that's a little bit more interesting. So the applications, I mentioned,
00:03:52
Pablo Tomasi
There are a lot of different applications and there's a lot of data that is needed for the Rail Operator. That's like train location, speed, you know, weather condition, how everything is working in terms of sensor so and so on. And there's also the voice communication. So Rail Operator needs to be able to communicate with different people and effectively, let me check my notes.
00:04:19
Pablo Tomasi
There are onboard computers that control the train's movement, there are radio block centers that effectively are responsible for certain parts of tracks and provide that information and feedback with the train. And then there are bunch other applications.
00:04:34
Pablo Tomasi
The idea is that FRMCS will enable everything from railway emergency call, train dispatch and voice com control, data transfers and potentially can also be used in sort of because it leverages 5g to enhance the customer journey to enhance you know the people that are actually using the train that's like a bunch of it you know telemetry monitoring control the idea is always to to eventually have that automated experience now just like very short intro for FRMCS probably too long
00:05:08
Pablo Tomasi
but why why this is interesting so uh how are how is the industry gonna be serving it um so i've seen many people like focusing as a sort of crit com type of play and there is some merit into this right um so voice is quite important has probably been like a cornerstone for for the critical comms and and for trains and that sort of architecture that mission critical push to talk is quite relevant um However, ah one one of the things to notice is that this goes well beyond that.
Lessons from Critical Comms & Campus Environments
00:05:42
Pablo Tomasi
And in the public safety, you have had that anchor driver of I need to replace the Tetra or something similar. I need something that can provide a similar experience. Now, as as we you know very quickly see, so actually, from all different applications, there is a lot of different things that needs to be connected and supported so it's it's lot about different devices different sensors different type of data that needs to be collected and and shared so that creates something slightly different from the prediction create comms now if we look at the other type of private network that so the campus environment this is obviously quite a different
00:06:26
Pablo Tomasi
quite a different environment, right? um Because we're talking about a wide area, it's going to be critical mission infrastructure. um There's going to be like government incentives for this. And it's not like campus environment. So that is very different.
00:06:41
Pablo Tomasi
However, when we're thinking about a sort of factory need for continuous operation, And when we're thinking about being able to adapt the network to serve different traffic patterns, depending on day, for instance, I think there are lessons that can be learned from there.
00:06:59
Pablo Tomasi
So which which is the right way of addressing I think there's going to be like that very strong critical comms component, but at the same time, there are lessons you can bring from the campus environment. and And as you as a vendor, as you're fine-tuning your product, think you need to bring lessons from both worlds to really create something that is unique in order to serve the railways.
00:07:22
Pablo Tomasi
Now, something that i think is really important and that is never discussed enough is what lessons can you can you learn from this type of development, this type of initiatives.
Adoption Timeline of FRMCS
00:07:35
Pablo Tomasi
um And when you're thinking about the timeline, so there is an expectation of FRMCS to live and to work with GSM-R for five-ish years or so whatever.
00:07:49
Pablo Tomasi
and And that's a long time. So we are thinking now the work has started before. So we're thinking about more of it longer than 10 years in terms of driving that adoption.
00:08:02
Pablo Tomasi
And I think that is something is' quite important too to learn. Take vertical markets move at a different speed. And in 2030, telecos and parts are going to be talking about 6G.
00:08:14
Pablo Tomasi
But here, they're still talking about, okay, how are we replacing a, you know, a GSM-R tech? into our infrastructure. So different speeds for different markets, that's pretty much what it is.
00:08:28
Pablo Tomasi
And the other thing that i I think is important to highlight is that if we're thinking about telecom vendors, there is that acceptance in a certain way of a longer timeline.
00:08:42
Pablo Tomasi
And something I don't really see for manufacturing where people want to have results immediately um and i think one of the possible reasons for this is because uh i mean if FRMCS are gonna be like huge contracts you know and and small numbers of them so it's much easier for someone to grasp that when manufacturing is is very fragmented um so that's possible why there is more um there is a better
00:09:13
Pablo Tomasi
willingness but willingness probably doesn't sound very correct but anyways there is more willingness from telcos to to wait for this development um but but it also shows what has been like a telcos standard approach of going after those big fat contracts you know again this multinational kind of ignoring some of the sort of small or medium-sized
Telcos opportunities
00:09:36
Pablo Tomasi
enterprise. So maybe there is like a way in between only going after longer contracts and only going after SMBs.
00:09:47
Pablo Tomasi
um So the last thing, again, this place, we all hear every day about trust, sovereignty, critical infrastructure, critical entities, whatever.
00:09:58
Pablo Tomasi
This place right in. So very big opportunity for telecom vendors. Now another opportunity, like in a more practical sense if you want, I mean these are like large networks. Some areas going to be rural areas, so it's big investment.
00:10:13
Pablo Tomasi
Sometimes what you need is not justifying your investment, it's probably in rural areas with like limited traffic. So hybrid networks or you know leveraging in one way or another,
00:10:27
Pablo Tomasi
a type of public network could become a really interesting opportunity that could be either as a sort of redundancy fallback or for mental capacity but even using part of the public network to support those needs that are not critical so again you can use private network for those essential mission critical use cases applications that that you need for FRMCS but then to develop the broader customer experience, the broader customer journey, you can leverage the public network.
00:10:59
Pablo Tomasi
And then it becomes an interesting opportunity for telcos course, they have spectrum, so that can also come into play in terms of helping with the transition or helping with the deployment of the new connectivity infrastructure for the railways.
Technological Integrations and Connectivity Needs
00:11:15
Pablo Tomasi
and And the last point that I think is an interesting opportunity, as I mentioned, you're changing a lot of things here. I mean, just focusing on the 5G part because of time and making things nice and smooth. But for instance, there have been some trials of bringing Cellular Plus Satellite to serve the it's industry. And one such trial, I think was called
00:11:38
Pablo Tomasi
Actually, I don't remember what it was called. But it was like done by CGI with with one web. It was tested a bunch of different use cases, such as train crew comms, IoT information, passengers, Wi-Fi.
00:11:57
Pablo Tomasi
So once again, there is an opportunity for telcos and other partners to provide the different set of technologies all brought together to serve very specific needs of a customer that has large connectivity requirements and that is something that not everyone can can really do so again it's a big opportunity for the telecom for the vendors that is their partners So trying to keep this you know short and hopefully there's going to be like ah enough content here.
00:12:31
Pablo Tomasi
Just let me know your thoughts if FRMCS has really a big talk opportunity or it's just on the network network vendor side. You know you can sell more boxes definitely. But hopefully I think I, you know, made least the case to open up the conversation from a telco perspective why you need to pay attention to this new market development.
Engagement and Call to Action
00:12:50
Pablo Tomasi
And, you know, like, subscribe, whatever works on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, you know, wherever this is published. And if you have any comments, just feel free to drop me a message on LinkedIn.
00:13:02
Pablo Tomasi
Happy to have a chat of this, um you know, any other possible topics. Have great day.