Evaluation of a Tunnel Ground to Train UWB Communication

This paper considers the use of the UWB radio technology for railway signalization. UWB potentially offers simultaneous ground to train communication, train location and obstacles detection using basically the same radio technology. This paper concentrates on the communication issue. It theoretically starts an evaluation of the performances of such UWB signals propagating into a railway tunnel. The first part of this paper presents some conventional UWB waveforms that could be used to propagate efficiently into a railway tunnel environment. A second part develops the propagation model used in order to simulate the frequency selective tunnel channel propagation. A third part presents the effect of this frequency selective tunnel propagation on these original waveforms. Considering different modulation schemes, some receiving performances are then analyzed.