As one in a series of European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) supplier interoperability events, the FRMCS Plugtests™ are well established as a “must attend” event for the railway sector – backed by strong support from the Union Internationale des Chemins de fer (UIC), as well as the Mission Critical community, including the Critical Communications Association (TCCA).
The FRMCS Plugtests, now in their fourth edition, took place on 1-5 July 2024 at the ETSI HQ in Sophia Antipolis, France. The testing event brought together experts from 45 companies, with high representation from railway undertakings, as well as suppliers with prototypes and products to make use of agreed test cases when connecting with each other’s applications.
During the week, alongside the testing, suppliers also provided a set of FRMCS demonstrations for the observers participating in the event, which were intended to showcase the technology’s behaviour and capabilities. The observers then gave valuable feedback following the session.
All of the idea sharing and FRMCS development testing made this edition of the Plugtests particularly successful, aided by the availability of the complete 5G Standalone system (5G Cores and live indoor 5G radio stations), and two separate 5G Cores. This allowed for realistic testing of On-Board FRMCS equipment to be conducted, including Cab Radios, MCx servers, in addition to the GSM-R-FRMCS interworking function (IWF) setups being successfully tested. Live trials of a group call technology that FRMCS will use, called Ad Hoc Group Calls, was another feature of the week.
Due to the range of expertise and testing, there were many other achievements during the 4th FRMCS Plugtest, with new developments emerging and creating a real buzz around the 5th ETSI FRMCS Plugtests, which are due to arrive on the platform in September 2025.
