Millimeter-Wave Communications for Smart Rail Mobility: From Channel Modeling to Prototyping

In this paper, we present an integration solution from channel modeling to prototyping, to realize millimeter-wave (mmWave) communications for smart rail mobility. In order to involve the railway features in the channel models, two mmWave channel models are established based on ray-tracing simulations in realistic railway scenarios. Moreover, the challenges raised by mmWave directional network under high mobility is overcome by our solutions concerning handover scheme, random access procedure, and beamforming strategies. By integrating these key enabling technologies, we prototype the mobile hotspot network (MHN) system which realizes 1.25 Gbps downlink data throughput in a subway line with the train speed of 80 km/h.