Leading South Korean operator SK Telecom has selected Samsung to provide the country's first dedicated and independent LTE network designed to meet the unique needs of railway safety and operation personnel. With this LTE network workforces in the field as well as operators in the control center will be able to communicate using multimedia services. Police forces and fire departments will be immediately informed when there's an accident within the metro given the compatibility between LTE-railways and Korea's nationwide public safety network.
This specialized network will be the first implementation of Samsung's LTE-Railway (LTE-R) technology that's going to cover the entire Busan Metro Line 1, it has been specifically designed to allow seamless communication throughout the line. Samsung will ensure 100% coverage along the length of the metro line by providing remote radio units, its Evolved Packet Core and Home Subscriber Server. To reduce interference and increase reliability of wireless connections all trains will be fitted with a series of receiver modules to relay connectivity between radio nodes and user devices on each car. Busan Metro Line 1 measures 41km from end to end and is made up of both underground and above ground stations across a terrain that includes urban and rural environments.
These changing characteristics present a series of challenges the most important being to mitigate interference and ensure perfect handover success rates. Samsung will lean on its vast experience with network deployments to promise “unparalleled” performance and reliability. The deployment is scheduled to begin next year and it will be the first railway dedicated LTE network in South Korea, thus showcasing the suitability and capability of LTE for public safety-type networks. Samsung will keep on working to locate expansion opportunities on other metro lines and public safety networks that can work with LTE-R.
