Phased Array Approach for Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communication in Train Stations

This work introduces a new all-in-one system for train-to-infrastructure communication. With respect to typical train conditions a four part concept was developed for the sending/receiving module with focus on beam steering. Together with the simulative safeguarding of this idea, the system was also evaluated in the laboratory. It consists of an antenna array, an expansion board, an evaluation board with microcontroller and Wi-Fi chip for signal generation and one board for power division and beam steering. Moreover, the problem of the latency and inaccuracy of beam steering by received signal strength will be treated and optimization steps in the algorithm will be presented. This development has contributed to a reduction of the synchronization time from 40 to one second. First measurements show the advantages and the challenges of the design approach and let guess the potential in case of industrialization.