A wireless network system for low data rata and multimedia data communications on trains

This paper presents a wireless network system implemented on trains which is suitable for both low and high (multimedia) data rate communication. The network system is comprised of a low rate data communication section, which provides communication services useful for system management, information transmission and train monitoring. A separate section is provided with high data rate communication capabilities, which enables multimedia infotainment applications. The proposed network system is based on wireless technologies in the ISM band, i.e. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, exploiting their characteristics to optimize the performance of the two sections. Every network node includes an embedded system required to manage the wireless network interface. The embedded system hardware architecture has been developed “ad-hoc”, as well as software procedures and algorithms needed for communication system management.