MINING NETWORKS
Ericsson – uplinking mining to 4G and beyond
Ericsson recently launched its latest Private 5G solution which offers secure and simple 4G LTE and 5G Standalone connectivity to mining and other industries . IM Editorial Director Paul Moore spoke to Filip Mestanov – Industry and Ecosystem Manager , Mining and Jeff Travers , Dedicated Networks Sales Manager , about Ericsson ’ s breadth of experience in mining and why mining companies are switching to 4G / 5G in greater numbers
Q Why is LTE use in mining accelerating ? FM : There are sometimes different drivers for LTE network adoption in surface open pit and underground mines but overall , of course LTE and 5G provide greater reliability of communications – often they have use cases where they have tried to implement technologies using other wireless networks which work fine on a small scale but when they have tried to scale up , such as with a larger number of autonomous machines , for example , there have been pitfalls so there is a realisation that these other networks do not meet their reliability or availability requirements – it may be the original network was not built to meet these new demands or that there are technical issues during handovers . Also LTE can cover a large area with only a relatively small number of nodes – even a factor of ten less nodes required to cover the same area which is a major TCO factor . LTE also provides a futureproofed platform on which you can build 5G going forward to be able to handle new technologies and scale for them as and when they are available through upgrades without having to swap out the network . Our solution can also handle use cases that other wireless technology cannot , particularly in relation to reliability of data . Finally unlike other wireless technologies developed by one party , often proprietary , which might only address one particular use case , whereas our technologies from the beginning come built with the notion that there will be a variety of use cases and allows for some of those to be prioritised over others – for example critical comms over voice calling .
Q Is the rollout of autonomous fleets a big part of this ? FM : Yes , it is becoming a more mature market with a lot of mines now using or trialling autonomous trucks . With autonomy , especially underground where elements of loading and dumping are still manual with the tramming autonomous , there are still high resolution cameras sending a lot of video footage back to the monitor or operator – here LTE has a much greater ability to handle this real time video than other wireless technologies . And arguably the ROI in implementing LTE whether on surface or underground is quick through the productivity benefits of the autonomy it is enabling where it is applied .
Q LTE in mining tends to be a collaboration approach between the LTE technology provider , a local telecoms group , an integrator and the mine itself – how do these projects come together ? FM : The telecom operators definitely play a big role to start with as they are normally the ones selling a solution direct to the mining companies and of course they are the ones with the spectrum assets in the country concerned . We usually sell our technology to the telecoms operator who then engage with the mining customer as they are the established entity in that country or region . They often have their own value add offering such as surveillance options . You also mention the systems integrator – they also play a crucial role – whether it is a new SI , a mining company SI or an SI already working with the mining operator . Examples with a lot of mining LTE project experience include Ambra Solutions based in Canada and Challenge Networks in Australia to name just two . There may be a use case specific partnership – if you are implementing a drone
Filip Mestanov , Ericsson Industry and Ecosystem Manager , Mining
inspection project underground , you will usually have a specialised company that builds the drone equipment and deploy infrared or other mapping technology on it . We may also partner with one of the mining equipment OEMs or contract miners . But the general answer is yes , there are usually several partners involved . The telecoms company normally leads the deals , and then you have the SIs plus the network technology
provider such as ourselves . Ericsson has an all-inclusive approach to partnership , so we partner with all kinds of companies around the world .
Q Often LTE seems to start with a trial network in one part of the mine – is this the norm ? FM : Yes – it is common to have a commercial trial prior to a full blown deployment which is mainly the customer looking to justify the investment cost by testing the technology and making sure it will be able to meet the requirements whether that be autonomous mining trucks , remote control drills or something else . We still carry out a lot of proof of concepts and commercial trials . However , today things have moved on from 2016 / 2017 in that major mining companies like BHP and Rio Tinto are already using LTE widely so in a sense it is easier for smaller and midtier miners to trust the technology today and make the choice to go straight to a full mine system . And increasingly a mining company may have LTE deployed at a mine in one country where they have seen the value and then want to replicate that setup elsewhere without requiring a trial . Another point is that in many cases there is a particular area of a mine that they want to trial a new technology use case in – such as a section of the pit where they are testing autonomous trucks – so will opt to start with LTE deployment there , which effectively acts as a trial .
Q If you were to try and summarise from a technical point of view why today ’ s mining industry needs LTE / 5G , would you say low latency would be at the top of the list ? JT : When you implement autonomy , you also need the ability to fall back on remote control which brings a latency requirement which did not exist before . This is the type of thing being tested in experimental subset areas that Filip mentions . The main drivers are latency but also uplink throughput .
Jeff Travers , Ericsson Dedicated Networks Sales Manager
FM : Definitely uplink throughput is a major point . When you start scaling up the number of vehicles you are operating remotely , then you start
needing a lot more cameras and the throughput that comes with live feed in particular . Then its low latency but also predictable and stable latency continued 0n page 98
96 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2021