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Publications

Publication Date

Manuscript Submission Deadline

Feature Topic

Call for Papers

The “connected train” is one of the most relevant use cases for the modern communications systems and technologies. High data rates to communicate with trains running at 300 km/h, providing Internet access to massive transit systems with up to 1000 people in 100 m long metro trains, ultra-dense sensor networks to know the condition of all the subsystems within the train, and mission-critical services for the safe movement of the train imply many challenges in the communications field that could be solved with these technologies. In particular, 5G is perceived in both the railway and the communications industries as a potential enabler of many disruptive services for railways, such as remote driving, virtual coupling of trains, massive sensing of trains, etc. Many of these disruptive and safety-relevant services require an ultra-reliable low-latency communication capability. This means that railways are ready to embrace massive transformation that will allow an evolution to more efficient, greener, and safer public service.

This Feature Topic (FT) aims to address the intersection between mobile communications and railways. Therefore, we invite potential authors from both academia and industry to submit their papers on the subject of modern communication technologies for railways. In this FT, we would like to try to answer some (or all) of the following questions: will modern communication systems revolutionize railways? Will 5G enable functionalities that are now very difficult — if not impossible — to achieve? how can modern communication technologies improve railways? What are the key challenges and bottlenecks involved? how does this topic align with ongoing research projects in railways?

Prospective authors are welcome to submit original and high-quality papers in any of the topics of interest, which include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Future use cases & services for railways enabled by the new communication technologies: virtual coupling, CBTC-V2V, remote driving, etc.
  • Channel measurements and channel models for modern railway communications, e.g. at millimeter-wave frequencies
  • New antenna designs for communication systems in railways 
  • MIMO, beamforming, massive-MIMO, etc. for communication systems in railways
  • T2X communication systems: Intra-train communications, train-to-train, train-to-ground, train-to-car, etc.
  • Spectrum-related issues, cognitive radio applications for railways.
  • New communication systems, architectures, technologies and techniques for railways.
  • Wireless Train Communications Networks for TCMS
  • Cybersecurity for railway networks (infrastructures and trains)

Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts should conform to the standard format as indicated in the Information for Authors section of the Manuscript Submission Guidelines. Please, check these guidelines carefully since they have been updated recently.

All manuscripts to be considered for publication must be submitted by the deadline through Manuscript Central. Select the "June 2019/Modern Railways: Communications Systems and Technologies" topic from the drop-down menu of Topic/Series titles.

Important Dates

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 15 December 2018
Decision Notification: 15 March 2019
Final Manuscript Due: 15 April 2019
Publication Date: June 2019

Guest Editors

Juan Moreno García-Loygorri
Departamento de Teoría de la Señal y Comunicaciones
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

Stephan Sand
Institute of Communications and Navigation
Deutsches Zentrum für Luftund Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
German Aerospace Center,-Germany

Guan Ke
State Key Laboratory of Rail Traffic Control and Safety & School of Electronic and Information Engineering
Beijing Jiaotong University, China