Largely invisible, tunnels, whether for the purpose of water conveyance or mass transit are a

key component of a national infrastructure. Tim Guest reports on the latest developments

As the civil engineering capabilities of man seem to stretch the boundaries of what’s possible
in the world of tunneling, in terms of length and dimension – the Laerdal Tunnel in Norway
is the world’s longest road tunnel at 24.5km - in the event of an incident deep inside the need
to be able to communicate, at least for first responders, is crucial the full length of any such
road or rail mega-structure.

Whether it’s the need for emergency personnel to have reliable critical communications
coverage, or transportation operators to provide radio comms to their staff, drivers, or
maintenance crews, tunnels present communication service providers and equipment
manufacturers with unique challenges.

Every tunnel poses its own unique set of requirements and no one tunnel communications
project will be exactly the same as another. Tunnels not only comprise the main tunnel ‘pipe’
or ‘tube’ but also an array of other complex structures, including ancillary technical rooms,
ventilation shafts, escape routes, that typically accompany the main ‘pipe’, and for which
bespoke communications plans and strategies must be designed. RF coverage must reach
them all and antennas or radiating cable/leaky feeders are the usual solutions used in tunnel
scenarios to support the multi-band nature - TETRA, Tetrapol, UHF, VHF, GSM and FM - of
such an environment.

While many older tunnels will not have had communications considerations taken into
account at time of building, the latest construction projects typically include a
communications plan for the provision of critical communications such as TETRA, as well as
plans for the other technologies. Such plans from the outset often rely on leaky-feeder
technology, with critical and public sector communications carried by one feeder, and a
second feeder carrying mass communications such as cellular. (The radiating cable carrying
critical communications such as Tetrapol and TETRA along the wall of a tunnel will often be
protected against mechanical and fire damage by concrete casings).

In the case of short tunnels, however, their challenges can often be solved through the use of
directional antennas transmitting RF signals into the tunnel from its entrance - relying on
signal penetration from the outside network is simply not good enough. When it comes to
longer structures, the technological solution of choice is the leaky feeder (aka radiating
cable), with planners using repeaters at intervals along the tunnel to ensure signal strength is
maintained deeper inside the structure. Fed by fibre-optic cables from a base transceiver
station (BTS), if a repeater fails its position and distance from neighbouring repeaters will
have been calculated to ensure sufficient power in subsequent repeaters to continue the re-
transmission of critical comms signals along the tunnel. To protect the repeaters in the event
of an actual major incident inside the tunnel, they are typically located in areas or rooms
alongside the main throughway rather than on the tunnel walls where they would be
vulnerable to fire or physical damage.

Not only might such an incident physically damage feeder cable and repeaters, but it will also
affect the signal propagation for technologies like cellular/GSM/4G, which may typically rely
on a distributed antenna system for its higher frequency propagation. Such signals will be
seriously attenuated by large vehicles should they end up blocking the signal path and
causing interference deep inside the tunnel. And while a cellular network can withstand a
certain degree of down time, public safety networks like TETRA require a permanently
reliable signal – it would be disastrous and life-threatening if attenuation affected the RF
delivering comms to first responders, where there is simply no room whatsoever for loss of
signal in any circumstances.

Fast-moving challenges
While all tunnels, new or old, present a linear problem to the planners, providing reliable
communications is made more difficult by fast-moving trains and traffic, and including their
many sources of RF transmission. Multi-path propagation issues and the disruptive effect
these fast-moving vehicles can have on the RF patterns inside a tunnel create potential
nightmares for planners. In such a scenario reliable signal handover and effective call
handling are crucial and any tunnel comms solution must ensure that RF signals remain
strong the whole length of the pipe, with handovers from one cell or base station to another
inside a tunnel occurring without being dropped.

In such scenarios, base stations are typically located, one at each entrance of a tunnel, with
signals fed between the two along a single feeder, which helps mitigate signal decay towards
the centre of the tunnel. The signal from one base station will switch to the other if it
becomes too weak. In subway and metro applications this set-up also provides the coverage
needed to deliver communications in station areas such as platforms, stairways, escalators
and service areas.

In a scenario where base stations cannot be located at the mouth of a long tunnel, service
providers sometimes use what is known as a base station hotel sited at a remote location from
the tunnel although connected to the tunnel infrastructure by fibre-optic cable. Tunnel
coverage solutions which use base stations in this way, connected to large numbers of
repeaters via fibre-optic cable, have been installed in tunnels as long as 20km in length.

The overall aim

The aim of planners responsible for a tunnel’s communications, whether cellular, public
safety or other, is to produce the same reliable coverage inside the tunnel as outside and, in
the case of TETRA and other critical communications, to reach the highest levels of
resilience, redundancy and quality of service, no matter how deep inside the tunnel first
responders or other operational personnel have to operate.

Deployments and solutions of note

To cover the wealth of players and solutions deployed in tunnels around the world would fill
many volumes, but to add some further real-world scenarios to the discussions above below
are a handful of real applications, together with a few of the solutions and solution providers
involved.

In Austria, Axell Wireless deployed a multi-band radio system, which now provides wireless
coverage throughout the 12.3km long two-track, single-tube Lainzer train tunnel in Vienna.
Opened in 2012, the tunnel’s communications system caters for multi-band public safety
comms, including TETRA and analogue, GSM-R, GSM and 3G signals. Users will be able to
make calls and access the Internet as they travel underground. The system is also designed to
provide DVB-H video broadcasting.

In a further Austrian deployment, Axell Wireless has worked with systems integrator Kapsch
CarrierCom to install a wireless train communications system over 13km of the Innsbruck
by-pass tunnel that includes public safety and train communications, as well as commercial
network preparations. The multi-band system includes GSM-R for standardised pan-
European train communications, and TETRA for the emergency services and train radio
system.

RFS provides tunnel communications solutions for metros, railways and road tunnels around
the world using advanced active, passive and hybrid RF distribution systems for in-tunnel
coverage. Its RADIAFLEX radiating cables, for example, combined with its ClearFill fibre-
optic extension and distributed antenna suite, support tunnel solutions for 2G, 3G, and 4G
commercial radio services as well as TETRA and GSM-R mission-critical wireless. Different
cable types are available, with optimised performance accounting for project-specific in-
tunnel installation methods and cable positioning options. The cable jackets are non-corrosive
and flame-retardant with the company also providing standard and heavy-duty installation
accessories such as hangers and clamps designed for easy cable attachment and orientation on
tunnel walls, as well as ensuring the cables can withstand harsh conditions such as the
pressure and wind load changes resulting from high-speed train movement.

In a major tunnel project in China RFS was the systems integrator for a TETRA solution
deployed along the Beijing Metro Changping Line in China, a €3.5m contract and the second
in-tunnel wireless communications project of its kind for RFS with the Beijing Metro, the
first having been the deployment of TETRA along Beijing’s Metro Line 4. The Changping
Line of Beijing Metro is a rapid-transit subway in northern Beijing. One of six metro lines
currently under construction, the line is 31.24km long with 12 stations and was completed in
2012.

The communications solution involved RFS deploying a complete TETRA wireless

communications system (Motorola’s Dimetra TETRA digital radio communications system
was the solution deployed for the project) together with related services, including coverage
design, delivery of TETRA digital radio communications system and related equipment, site
surveys, supervision, system commissioning and acceptance, as well as project and
documentation management. RADIAFLEX radiating cables provided the coverage, supported
by a wide range of passive and active technologies, including TETRA fibre-optic repeater
systems, antennas and accessories, to meet precise coverage, traffic and route requirements.

With long distances between many of the stations along the Changping Line, system design
was a key consideration and RFS has relied on its TETRA fiber-optic repeater system, which
is specially designed for long-distance metro environments to ensure reliable signal relays
across the large number of repeaters used.

Motorola planned, designed and implemented the Shanghai Metro TETRA network working
closely with Shentong Metro Group. With 280 stations, each line is managed by an
Operations Control Centre (OCC), and all the OCCs are managed by a Comprehensive
Operation Coordination Center (COCC). The full system includes over 189 enhanced base
stations, two all-IP MSOs (Mobile Switch Offices), which are used to control and manage the
entire private radio network, over 5,000 user terminals (handheld mobile radio devices,
TETRA subscribers and mobile radios), Central Operations Command Centre, radio
frequency (RF) coverage system, repeater stations, as well as various train CAD applications
that are customised for the rail network. It operates on the 800MHz frequency spectrum.

One of Europe’s leading suppliers of radiating cables is Kabelwerk Eupen AG of Belgium

and amongst its product portfolio is its GSM-R optimised 'A'-Series range, which the
company says have been ‘subjected to rigorous independent testing by one of the world’s
leading Railway Authorities, under real-life conditions in multiple Railway tunnels’. As a
result of those tests it was shown that the Eupen radiating cables ‘facilitate longer distances
between amplifier and repeaters’, in turn leading to cost savings as the number of such
network elements reduces. Eupen’s radiating cables are in operation carrying critical public
safety and other communications services in the Moscow METRO, Europe's largest METRO
system, and the SMART Tunnel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the longest multi-purpose tunnel
in the world.

Image:The largest TETRA-based urban rail communications system in China and Asia is the
Shanghai Metro TETRA network, which covers 11 lines, and a combined operating route
length of 425km. These distances actually make it the longest train network in the world.