Discovering a Sustainable Power Solution for Next Generation 5G Railway Communication

Completed

Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Energy system analysis)
Not Energy Related
Other Power and Storage Technologies
Other Power and Storage Technologies(Energy storage)

Basic and strategic applied research
Applied Research and Development

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Dr M Zhu
School of Applied Sciences
Cranfield University

Standard

EPSRC

01 April 2023

31 August 2025

29 months

£202,435

Civil eng. & built environment

East of England

NC : Engineering

Dr M Zhu, School of Applied Sciences, Cranfield University

Project Contact, Network Rail Ltd
Project Contact, COMSA Corporation
Project Contact, Railway Industry Association

Passenger numbers have doubled in the last 20 years and are set to double again in the next 25 years. Rail industry can't rely on more track to cater for this growth. In order to unlock the challenge and increase rail capability, the railway industry and governments worldwide are preparing 5G communication infrastructure for the next generation and beyond, aiming to provide ultra-high performance connection with millisecond latency, gigabit per second transmission rate, and dense coverage to enable more connected devices, operations, passengers and interventions for safety, controllability, reliability and availability. 5G requires massive small cell base stations spread along large geographical railway lines, which complement high tower base station capability, bringing signals closer to the trains and passengers and enabling ultra-high-speed coverage and dense passenger connections. However, 5G rollout has lagged in installing small cell base stations within infrastructure due to the required high density of base stations (one base station is needed approximately every tens of meters) and the associated power supply.Running cables alongside the railway lines to wayside power sources or powering the base stations using batteries are not viable options for such scenarios. Installations of new equipment such as transformers to power the low voltage small cell base stations from the existing high voltage 25/50 kV rail electrification systems are not economically justifiable. Greater connectivity and coverage along such large geographical railway lines is critical for 5G rollout, but must have a solution that requires no power cables, no batteries and is easy to install. One powerful approach to solving such an issue is discovering a sustainable power solution using a novel energy harvesting (EH) technology. The engineering research idea proposed here is to discover a sustainable, self-powered solution by harvesting high electromagnetic field flux energy generated by currents of electrified railway systems around masts to power small cell base stations for the next generation of 5G railway communication.The speculative idea and hypothesis proposed here are to enable every electrified railway mast along the widely distributed railway lines to become a sustainable power source, harvesting high electromagnetic flux energy when the trains operate around and pass by, converting it into sufficient usable electrical power and powering small cell base stations.This research is the first time exploration of such an energy source around the railway masts for EH, enabling the supply of sufficient usable power to power small cell base stations. It is expected that once successful, the proposed technology will radically revolutionise how the next generation of 5G railway communication will be powered in an energy autonomous and sustainable way.The project is to test the proposed speculative idea and the hypothesis through 4 work packages. WP1 is to thoroughly understand electrical currents in electrified railway systems and perform initial designs of energy harvesters. WPs 2 & 3 focus on understanding electromagnetic flux EH capability via modelling, design, implementation and testing of energy harvesters. WP4 is a demonstration study. The project industrial partners are: Network Rail's Telecoms (UK), Railway Industry Association (UK) and COMSA Corporation (Spain), all from Railway industry

26/04/23