Satellite Technologies for Broadband Internet Access Onboard High Speed Trains David SANZ SNCF - Direction de l'Innovation et de la Recherche, Paris, France
[email protected] Abstract This paper presents last years SNCF work concerning broadband Internet service delivery to passengers onboard high speed trains. First of all, the reasons to the deployment of this kind of services are presented. Then, the different candidate technologies are listed, before to focus on satellite solutions advantages and drawbacks. Finally, the different projects and experimentations carried out by SNCF onboard high speed trains (TGV) are introduced. The paper concludes with some brief conclusions and by giving some perspectives of future researches SNCF is willing to carry. Introduction Last years have witnessed the constant and unstoppable growth of Internet accesses. People can use their Company's Internet access when they're in the office, their broadband DSL/cable connections at home (9,5 M high speed Internet subscribers in France in December 2005!), 2,5G and 3G cellular communication networks when they're on the move, and of course, WiFi Internet accesses in public hotspots like airports, hotels and train stations,… People are becoming used to have Internet access wherever they are and all the time… that's the well- known concept of "Always-on, "Always-connected", "Anyplace-Anytime-Anydevice", … Trains should not be an exception! First of all, because traveler's needs and expectations concerning this kind of value added services really exist, but also because train competitors (plane, car, bus,…) don't stop innovating in this area (the ConnexionByBoeing service is an example).