Finite state Markov modelling for high speed railway wireless communication channel

How to provide reliable, cost-effective wireless services for high-speed railway (HSR) users attracts increasing attention due to the fast deployment of HSRs worldwide. A key issue is to develop reasonably accurate and mathematically tractable models for HSR wireless communication channels. Finite-state Markov chains (FSMCs) have been extensively investigated to describe wireless channels. However, different from traditional wireless communication channels, HSR communication channels have the unique features such as very high speed, deterministic mobility pattern and frequent handoff events, which are not described by the existing FSMC models. In this paper, based on the Winner II physical layer channel model parameters, we propose a novel FSMC channel model for HSR communication systems, considering the path loss, fast fading and shadowing with high mobility. Extensive simulation results are given, which validate the accuracy of the proposed FSMC channel model. The model is not only ready for performance analysis, protocol design and optimization for HSR communication systems, but also provides an effective tool for faster HSR communication network simulation.