Reliable and Real-time WLAN Connections for Underground Mines

Industry	Manufacturing Automation
Company
Products	AWK-5222 Series AWK-6222 Series
In Brief	Underground mining operations require efficient and reliable mine-wide communication systems to maintain smooth operations and safeguard the safety of miners. Traditional wired networks are poorly suited for reaching all the corridors of an intricate, multilayered mine network.

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Overview
Underground mining operations require efficient and reliable mine-wide communication systems to maintain smooth operations and safeguard the safety of miners. Traditional wired networks are poorly suited for reaching all the corridors of an intricate, multilayered mine network. Wireless LAN offers widerange mobility, freedom from cables, and plenty of bandwidth to create mining operations that run smoothly and can quickly recover from emergencies.

Application Requirements
• Reliable WLAN connection with full coverage of mine operations from the
underground mine to the surface control center in real time
• 4.9 GHz band operations to avoid interferences
• Up to 1 km long range data transfer to surface control room
• Video data transfer rate of 15 Mbps
• Designed for arduous underground mine conditions

System Description
An industrial WLAN system makes it possible to track miners and mobile equipment throughout a mine system, and also monitor different environmental conditions such as toxic gas, humidity, and fallen rocks using sensors.

The system uses several AWK-6222 units with outdoor dual RF design that are installed as access points along the underground line and are connected to each other using Ethernet cables. One AWK-6222 is set up as an AP to communicate to the above-ground control room located one kilometer away from the mine entrance.

Mining operations include mobile machinery, such as mine wagons, large wheel loaders, and off-highway mining trucks. To wirelessly monitor and track this array of vehicles and equipment, each vehicle is installed with one AWK-6222 configured as a client, which in turn connects to an EDS-205A switch that itself is connected to PLCs, GPS equipment, and video cameras via Ethernet cables.

Moxa WLAN wireless products empower the mine system with exceptional wireless performance. Fast roaming allows seamless handovers from one access point to another over wide-ranging areas. The AWK-6222 also features dual RF modules to provide the security of redundant wireless links, and the 4.9 GHz operation prevents possible radio interference.

Video surveillance is important due to the many possible blind spots at a complex mine site, and a video data rate of up to 15 Mbps is required to guarantee that video data is transferred to the control center in real time.