EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking
Volume 2007 (2007), Article ID 049718, 17 pages
doi:10.1155/2007/49718
Research Article

Advanced Fade Countermeasures for DVB-S2 Systems in Railway Scenarios

Stefano Cioni,1 Cristina Párraga Niebla,2 Gonzalo Seco Granados,3 Sandro Scalise,2 Alessandro Vanelli-Coralli,1 and María Angeles Vázquez Castro3

1ARCES, University of Bologna, Via Toffano 2, Bologna 40125, Italy
2German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Communications and Navigation, Postfach 1116, Wessling 82230, Germany
3Department of Telecommunications and Systems Engineering, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Campus Universitari, s/n, Bellatera, Barcelona 08193, Spain

Received 22 October 2006; Accepted 3 June 2007

Academic Editor: Ray E. Sheriff

Copyright © 2007 Stefano Cioni et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This paper deals with the analysis of advanced fade countermeasures for supporting DVB-S2 reception by mobile terminals mounted on high-speed trains. Recent market studies indicate this as a potential profitable market for satellite communications, provided that integration with wireless terrestrial networks can be implemented to bridge the satellite connectivity inside railway tunnels and large train stations. In turn, the satellite can typically offer the coverage of around 80% of the railway path with existing space infrastructure. This piece of work, representing the first step of a wider study, is focusing on the modifications which may be required in the DVB-S2 standard (to be employed in the forward link) in order to achieve reliable reception in a challenging environment such as the railway one. Modifications have been devised trying to minimize the impact on the existing air interface, standardized for fixed terminals.