MISTRAL analysed the techno-economic viability of the transition from NaaA to NaaS under different scenarios through the following steps
• Scenario Building & Innovative Services
The AS-IS rail communication system in Europe was reviewed. A portfolio of future TO-BE scenarios was built considering driving forces and barriers concerning economics, technology, stakeholders, policies, regulations, standards, safety, dependability. Three candidate scenarios (two NaaA and one NaaS) based on IP technologies were selected for final business analysis. MISTRAL also identified Innovative Services enabled by such IP technologies and classified them in terms of priority, typology, service providers and final users.
• Market Trends and Value Ecosystem design
The 1st step was a market analysis of the rail sector and of the European network communication system identifying available services and key actors (i.e. communication systems suppliers, rail enterprises, telco operators). As 2nd step, market driving forces enabling the migration from NaaA to NaaS and their effects were analysed. External stakeholders needs and opinions about the possibilities offered by NaaS were collected, also using questionnaires. Economic data needed as input for the Techno-economic proposition were obtained and a methodology for building business models was defined.
• Technological and General Performance Conditions trends
Performance requirements of current and future communication technologies for railways were analysed, with a focus on key parameters of data transmission, such as network architecture, data capacity, bandwidth and QoS. Possible future wireless communication technology candidates were examined. Requirements and implementation conditions were defined, including a survey of QoS mechanisms and new implementation concepts. An overview of ongoing normative discussions on future frequency spectrum resources use was also done.
• Techno-economic Proposition Viability Analysis
MISTRAL finally defined a Techno-Economic Evaluation Framework, which comprises a method to evaluate economic viability of services for passengers and for operators using wireless communications infrastructures deployed in railway scenarios under different conditions of communication networks ownership and management. The Techno-economic proposition was subject to a Business Viability Analysis to gauge and optimize the TCO of the new communication system and to a Technical Viability Analysis to investigate compliance with new requirements, including Security and QoS. The final result of MISTRAL is a “Validated Techno-Economic Proposition” with optimized life-cycle cost and a portfolio of Innovative Services.
Dissemination & Communication Overview
Tools and actions done are herein listed:
• Website, LinkedIn, Twitter
• Brochure
• TRA 2018 poster and presentation
• Attendance at external events: 9th Railway Innovation Congress in Cadiz, TRA 2018, Expo Ferroviaria, ETSI workshop on future radio for rail in Sophie Antipolis, Innotrans 2018
• Journal articles: TRA 2018 article on Zenodo, MISTRAL article on ‘Research*eu Results Magazine’ N°72/May 2018 and CORDIS
• Two physical workshops with the External Stakeholder Committee were held during the project. A 3rd on-line workshop was held in December 2018 after the project end to share results, and get inputs and feedback. Attendees were representatives of the complementary project X2Rail-1, 3GPP, an MNO and a metro operator.
• Future dissemination activities are planned to use own Partners resources (e.g. websites) to publish and spread MISTRAL results after the project conclusion.
Exploitation
TUD exploited MISTRAL results integrating them in research and lectures. The other Partners plan to exploit the foreground knowledge in the techno-economic evaluation of rail services by offering consultancy to major European rail and communications stakeholders. Moreover, Partners will exploit the developed methodologies by seeking new EU-funded projects.
