The mining industry is on a transition towards unmanned operations. This implies a step change in wireless infrastructure expansion to support autonomous and teleoperated machinery. This paper investigates how the topographic changes over the course of 10 years of continuous mining affect the propagation conditions, and impacts the performance associated with different deployment strategies for wireless networks in a large open-pit mining complex in Brazil. Through a series of system-level simulations, using detailed terrain models, realistic traffic volumes and a dedicated propagation model, we compare the ability of different deployment strategies, and network features, to meet given performance targets with existing technology. The results show that heterogeneous deployments can be exploited to continuously guarantee coverage in this ever- changing topography, while interference mitigation techniques, such as enhanced inter-cell interference coordination (eICIC) and beamforming, can be used to reduce the system outage without need to increase the spectrum.

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Deployment Strategies for the Industrial IoT: A Case Study Based on Surface Mines

As in other vertical markets, wireless communications are expected to play a fundamental role in the digitalization of the mining industry. Akin to most industrial applications, careful and scenario specific understanding of the radio propagation conditions is key to plan and deploy a reliable wireless network. However, surface mining presents an additional challenge when compared to other industrial scenarios: inherent large-scale topographic variability. Therefore, it is necessary to validate if the radio propagation models remain accurate over large topographic change. In this work, we summarize and compare the results collected in two distinct measurement campaigns, with the predictions of a dedicated path loss model (Vale Model) previously derived from measurements in surface mines. The second measurement campaign is performed by means of an automated site survey, that takes advantage of operational wireless systems and mining equipment to collect data samples. The results show that even with different transmit frequencies, topographic variation, test equipment, and measurement methods (dedicated versus automated site surveys), the Vale model provides a good fit for path loss prediction in open-pit mines, with RMSE values in the order of 7 dB. Besides, this is the first time a radio propagation model has been validated over large topographic changes in a surface mining scenario.

/pdf/validation-of-the-vale-path-loss-model-for-open-pit-mines-in-3xyq5v0hmx.pdf

Validation of the Vale Path Loss Model for Open-Pit Mines in Different Stages of Mine Exploration

This paper analyzes the effects of shadowing in vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) links caused by haul trucks in surface mines. The work focuses on mobile cell sites, known as cell on wheels (COWs), which are widely used by the mining industry. The study relies on extensive ray tracing simulations based on realistic 3D CAD models and detailed propagation effects. The results are presented in terms of excess path loss for multiple frequency bands, namely 795 MHz, 2.6 GHz, 5.9 GHz and 28 GHz. As expected, blockage is very severe for mmW transmissions, but our results show that even sub-1 GHz links may suffer shadowing losses exceeding 20 dB under unfavorable conditions, e.g. haul trucks lifting the dump bed. The results can also guide future measurement campaigns and provide useful insights for engineers planning and optimizing mission-critical wireless networks in mines.

Gabriel Guieiro

Papers

Evaluation of Shadowing Caused by Mining Machinery in V2I Communications

Deployment Strategies for the Industrial IoT: A Case Study Based on Surface Mines

Validation of the Vale Path Loss Model for Open-Pit Mines in Different Stages of Mine Exploration