System speeds communications.

• Author: Louiseize, Kelly
• Position: Mining - Hard-Line Solutions constructed a digital system for mining

For years Walter Siggelkow heard how dysfunctional the mining communication system were, so he and his staff at Hard-Line Solutions constructed a digital system that will forever change the mining industry, should mining gurus decide to use it.

"It is a communication infrastructure that gives you data, video and voice," Siggelkow, general manager and part owner of Hard-Line Solutions explains.

Other systems were developed by competitors to provide access to voice and underground phones, however, when it came to the transference of computer data, communication systems did not have enough bandwidth so information was sparse, Siggelkow adds.

"It would be like a dial-up connection was ten years ago," Siggelkow explains.

"It would transfer some data, but not enough for what the mines want them to do."

Now with the new micro-cellular technology, the digital communication system allows for wired and wireless data, and video information to get to the receiver within less than a second (time equivalent to a blink of an eye).

"We developed a system that will give full two-way communication (with) a backbone (wired hardware) of 100 megabits. That is 100 million bits per second."

An example of hardwired transmission is the underground office computers. Time charts, work orders and invoicing can be channeled through the main frame via the digital communicator. Ventilation and control systems including seismic ground monitoring can also become part of the communication process through hardwiring. The underground systems transmit low frequency waves, which can be transferred through the rock, Siggelkow explains. However, more recent technology like that required to operate a load haul dump (LHD) machine underground from surface requires extra megabits, since it considered high frequency waves and cannot be transmitted through the rock.

"The wireless part (the digital communication system) gives us 11million bits per second," Siggelkow adds.

For example, the digital communication system enables mines to monitor the amount of muck being scooped from an LHD by the transference of information from the mined area to surface by computers.

Not only does the system hook machines into the network, it...