Obstacles and Solutions to Mine

Communications

Ron White

May 29, 2014

Rev. 1

• Obstacles and Solutions for Connectivity

to Multiple Onboard 3rd Party Applications

– RF Design

– Hardware Requirements, Onboard and

Infrastructure

– Data Requirements

– Technology Clutter

Agenda

Problem Area - RF Design &

Interference Mitigation

1. Typical outdoor design philosophies (that present problems in

open pit mines)

• High and Powerful

– Access Points located on top of Mtn’s, buildings, towers, etc. to get coverage

to all the necessary nooks and cranny’s

– Powerful because higher signal strengths yield higher throughputs

Problems?

• Client count

• Interference

• Signal strengths

Problem Area - RF Design &

Interference Mitigation

2. Typical outdoor design philosophies (that present problems in open

pit mines)

• Large Infrastructure counts

– Overlap reduced by signal attenuation from buildings, trees, etc.

Problems?

• Interference

• Near/Far

• Hidden Node

Problem Area - RF Design &

Interference Mitigation

3. Typical outdoor design philosophies (that present problems in

open pit mines)

– Add another AP!

• Coverage problems are often thought of as easily resolved by adding

another AP (Add another off Ramp)

• Problems?

– Severe interference and retries

Solution - RF Design &

Interference Mitigation

Design & Deploy Proper RF Zones

Proper Channel Selection

Low Power/Low Gain and Directional Antennas

Terrain Masking/Downtilt Antennas

•Requires frequent re-design/re-deploy due to movement of the mine •Smart Connection Management to handle fast/appropriate roaming

Problem Area - Onboard Hardware

Requirements

• It’s all about reliability

– Downtime costs you by the minute

• Shock and vibe

• Dust/Water intrusion

• Heat/Cold

• Cabling requirements

• Onboard grounding problems

• Coverage over varying terrain &

distance

Problem Area – Infrastructure

Hardware Requirements

• Robust Infrastructure Hardware

– Harsh Environments – Severe Heat/Cold

– Heavy Corrosion from frequently being located on or near leach

dumps

– Frequent movement

• Infra typically isn’t on fixed towers, but rather on easy to

move trailers.

Solution – Custom Designed

Hardware

• Appropriately rated onboard hardware

– Cabling custom designed for the application

• High power radios with low gain antennas

– Allowing appropriate vertical and horizontal coverage

– Ability to reduce coverage distances through power adjustments.

• Infrastructure mounting solutions custom designed for the

environment

– Easy mobility

– Strength for heavy infra. radio applications

– Power for light or heavy loads

– Galvanized steel to handle the environment

Problem Area – Real-Time Data

Applications

• Legacy applications not intended for network communications

• Coverage vs. Throughput

– Typically heavy coverage requirement

– Typically relatively low throughput requirement

– Real-time apps often generate high packet counts

• Applications are often designed “in office” with little thought to wireless

network limitations

• Frequent “Scope Creep” as reliable communications become available,

new requirements and applications appear.

• Access to data can be limited due to desire for multiple applications to

collect data on a single port, or limited application availability.

Solution – Network Integration Platform,

Advanced QoS, and Network Management

• Interface tools enabling network access to legacy applications

• Heatmap tools designed to allow network monitoring and intelligent management decisions, with knowledge from the client experience.

• Application management, allowing tighter control over bandwidth utilization than QoS settings.

– Automatic bandwidth limiting of specific applications based on network location, time, conditions, etc.

• Enable user access to raw data, including ability to access data from multiple applications

Problem Area – Technology Clutter

New Technology quickly becomes

“required equipment”

Hardware required for these new

products becomes “Technology

Clutter”

Can present maintenance,

production, ergonomic, and safety

problems.

Solution – Open Networking and

Computing Platform

• Open platform allowing hardware to be shared between

multiple applications

– Virtual Machine environment

– Resource sharing

• Radio interface

• GPS

• Data Historian sharing data from I/O ports to onboard information

such as machine health

– Tablet and One Display application allowing a single screen to provide

interface to multiple applications, with smart alert monitoring.

The Future

Who would have dreamed?

Who is 3D-P IEP?

Founded in 1996

Purposed to bring value add technology to mining vertical

Customer driven to utilize open methodologies and unique mining,

manufacturing, and IT knowledge to provide: Wireless data networks for open pit mining

Communication to new as well as legacy applications

Open access to data

Hardware Ruggedized for mining which can deliver both virtual and physical interface

capability as well as application hosting.

3D-P Mission Statement:

3D-P believes in technology for mining, designed by people who know mining. We

solve the technology problems miners face by making products that are easy to use,

give them direct access to their data, and eliminate technology clutter.

What We Do

Enable and unleash the power

of productivity, asset health, &

safety applications for surface

mines

Wireless data networks for mines

Application Interfacing Tools

Manufacture Intelligent Endpoints

for on-machine network access,

resource sharing and application

hosting.

Provide management software

applications to simplify

administration of the wireless

network and all the onboard

connections.

Support and Services

Distribution Layer(Canopy PMPs)

Backhaul Layer(Canopy PTPs)

Client Layer(Intelligent Endpoints)

Access / Mobility Layer(7181 or IAPs)

Operations Office

(Endpoint Manager, WiNG5.4 WLAN Controller, Wireless Manager)

The Intelligent Endpoint (IEP)

LTE Endpoints

• First customer deployment is complete. Network is moving into a second phase (additional Endpoints).

• Significant development around connection management and handling L2 communications

• Infrastructure for first deployment is Alcatel-Lucent (Private Network)

• Working with additional vendors for infrastructure (Rogers, Challenge, Oceus)

Shared Specifications: • RS-232 x6

• Gig Eth x4* (Managed)

• CAN x2

• DIO 4xin 4xout

• USB x1

• GPS (WAAS – HPGPS w/ Glonass Option)

• External SIM Option* for LTE

• Dual Radio Capable

• IP67/-40C +75C/10g Shock/20g Vib

• e200 Specific

2GB DDR Ram

16GB mSATA SSD

Dual-Core Atom @1.33GHz

e200 - e300

• e300 Specific

8GB DDR Ram

64GB mSATA SSD

Pentium i7 @ 1.7GHz

Field Follow June

t300 Falcon

• Intel® AtomTM CPU @ 1.6 GHz

• Standalone version pre-loaded

with Windows Pro 7

• Pre-loaded with Linux, the t300

can be paired with e300 as an

all-in-one computing platform

plus display

• Ruggedized tablet computer in multi-layered chassis designed

to withstand the rigors of mining

• Bright and crisp 10.4” sunlight readable display

• Five-wire resistive display for responsive feedback to stylus,

fingertip or even gloved touch

• RAM vehicle mount system with quick-release

The osi-suite

Example Deployment

Third Party Applications: • Asset Mgmt • HPGPS • FMS

Reducing Technology Clutter

From reduced radios onboard to reduced screens in the cab,

reducing technology clutter is at our core.

• Remove extra radios

• Remove the onboard Ethernet switch

• Remove RS-232 to Ethernet converters

• Remove VPN client hardware

• Remove asset health data logger hardware

• Remove multiple GPS Antennas

• Remove 3rd party application hardware

Designed for mining

Rugged

Mining specific IO capabilities

Resource sharing software

Reducing Technology Clutter

(Cont.)

How is it managed?

Friendly

Hosted and/or using 3D-P Virtualization Tools

Unfriendly

Un-aware of 3D-P virtualization (although possibly receiving data

from those tools)

Resource Sharing

Network Sharing/Management Tools

GPS

Data File Transfer

Date/Time Services

Caterpillar VIMS Telemetry

These tools simplify the job of certifying new

applications/connections to the 3D-P IEP.

One Display

One Display - Reducing Technology Clutter

Simplified Approach

Show the video from hosted and non-hosted applications

on a single screen

Monitor those applications for pre-defined alerts and

alarms and prioritize viewing based on those alarms.

Where VNC server is available on applications, no requirement

for application vendor support.

LTE Endpoints

• First customer deployment is complete. Network is moving into a second phase (additional Endpoints).

• Significant development around connection management and handling L2 communications

• Infrastructure for first deployment is Alcatel-Lucent (Private Network)

• Working with additional vendors for infrastructure (Rogers, Challenge, Oceus)

Custom Solution Case Study

Case Study: Traffic control for safer operations

and prioritization of production

Restrict traffic from crossing haul road at intersection

LV to HV interactions

Desire to prioritize production vehicles

Geofence Geofence

Conclusion

•Properly designed networks can meet user requirements •Robust •Appropriate Throughput •Appropriate Coverage

•Open access to onboard data, including sharing between multiple applications is available.

•Utilizing Open hardware/software platforms can help in reducing technology clutter.