Railways form a significant part of the world’s freight and commuter transportation backbone. The ability to monitor and control railway systems in real-time is imperative for both rail safety and business efficiency. Functions such as track circuiting, axle counting and block working control depend for their effectiveness upon a reliable communications infrastructure extending across as much as thousands of kilometers of track.
To maintain peak operational performance, railways also must simultaneously support an integrated telecommunications infrastructure including PSTN connectivity, Internet connectivity and emergency communications.
The increases in rail traffic, the growing sophistication of monitoring, control and communications systems and the addition of IP to the existing network is placing new demands on railway communications infrastructure. And those demands are made even more challenging to meet by the sheer geographic scope of that infrastructure.
Microwave radio systems have long been a staple of railway backhaul approaches but network evolution and required system capacities are driving an industry-wide need to update legacy systems and replace leased lines that can no longer meet capacity requirements cost-effectively.
By supporting both native TDM and native Ethernet — in any combination — Exalt’s radio systems are designed to ensure the absolute highest performance for both traditional TDM traffic and newer IP-based communications. And with carrier-class guaranteed availability, exceptional bandwidth efficiency and available monitored hot standby, Exalt systems are designed to take maximum advantage of available spectrum and to deliver bullet-proof operation.
Exalt backhaul radio systems are available in license-exempt and licensed frequencies from 2 to 40 GHz and in capacities up to 1 Gbps, providing a range of options to fit countless TDM, IP and mixed network scenarios.