Latest from Wray Castle RSS

5G Network Slicing seems to be one of the hottest buzzwords around at the moment. If you’re looking for an introduction keep reading or have a look at our new course in this area. 5G as a platform delivers in two major areas. Firstly it brings cost efficiency through access to huge areas of new spectrum and the effective use of advanced antenna techniques. It also delivers significantly improved performance and capabilities centred largely on reduced latency, increased reliability, and lower energy use. Although requiring significant initial investment, the first area will allow progressive and cost-effective deployment of much needed capacity into the...

LTE was designed mainly for the delivery of mobile broadband over smartphones. However, a progressive flattening of broadband revenues has led network operators to seek out new markets and new use cases, in which connectivity can provide economic benefits. These use cases often have different use cases from those of mobile broadband. Some of them, for example mMTC (Massive Machine Type Communications), can be addressed by enhancing the LTE specifications. However, other use cases cannot be supported so easily over LTE, and require a new technology to address them properly. The technology is known as the 5G New Radio (NR)....

Railway networks depend on telecoms.  Without adequate systems in place, trains would not be able to run. GSM-R, adopted in most European countries following International Union of Railways (UIC) guidelines, provides a vital radio communication link between train drivers and signallers, as well as supporting the European Train Control System (ETCS), which details train movements without the need for lineside signalling. Internet Protocol (IP) technologies are used widely in support of signalling activities, critical communication links, surveillance and CCTV monitoring amongst many others, supported by an extensive fibre and copper network. Wi-Fi provides connectivity to the internet for passengers but...

Mission critical communications are currently supported by the Airwave network; however by the end of 2019 it is the intention of the government to replace this network with a more cost-effective and up-to-date broadband communications system. The main issue is that time is running out. The government has chosen a system - LTE (Long Term Evolution); however LTE was never designed for mission critical communications. It was designed to provide mobile communications to smart devices, offering quicker access to data. What this means is that the LTE systems needs to be adapted to make it suitable for mission critical communications,...

2018 will be the start of the journey for those defining their 5G strategy. Specifications will be frozen by 3GPP in Sept 2018, with commercial deployments expected from around 2020. Senior managers, key thinkers and strategists are considering the ways in which the potential of 5G communications can be maximised in such contexts as connected and autonomous vehicles, massive machine-type communications, critical communications, smart cities, virtual and augmented reality, Industry 4.0 and so on. Many network operators have already conducted trials of 5G, as well as announcing plans to demonstrate the technology and to rollout commercial deployments. In South Korea,...