Nerospec SK – Connecting Underground Machinery BFM 90

NEROSPEC SK

CONNECTING UNDERGROUND MACHINERY

NEROSPEC SK

2 | COMMUNICATION & TECHNOLOGY

NEROSPEC SK

NEROSPEC SK IS BRINGING THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION TO THE UNDERGROUND MINING SECTOR.

CONNECTING UNDERGROUND MACHINERY PROJECT MANAGED BY: RASH UDDIN

Nerospec SK is a German entity founded last year as a joint venture between Nerospec, the South African mining electronics and software company, and Schmidt Kranz, the German Holding company, globally operating with multiple companies in the mining sector.

Dr Eric Pohlmann, CEO, Nerospec SK.

O

ur vision and ambition are to bring the fourth industrial revolution of digitalisation into the underground mining space,” explains Dr Eric Pohlmann, CEO of Nerospec SK. “With that, we can make the lives of miners and the operating of machines in mines safer, more efficient and more productive.”

Nerospec SK is built on three pillars. The first pillar is underground communications infrastructure, specifically designed for effective tunnel data communication. This includes leaky feeder and WiFi or LTE networks technologies developed for underground uses that require greater data transmission.

The second pillar is data insights.

“That means everything that’s needed to collect data from machines in that rugged, rough mining environment, then getting that data from underground to the surface with edge computing and transport mechanisms,” Pohlmann says. “We’re building on the connectivity and capabilities provided in the first business

pillar, and then also adding analytics around the operational summary data, what we call Short Interval Measurement and Control (SIMAC) and dashboarding, altogether making valuable decision-making insights available to miners.”

The third pillar is automation, perhaps the one that is set to most revolutionise the mining sector.

This includes everything from the remote control and tele-remote control of underground mining equipment, to semi or even fully autonomous mining equipment with machines that go completely unsupervised by humans.

“One of our shareholders, who originates from South Africa, does the hardware design and manufacturing all in house, with nearly 200 people.

So, we have our own products and supply chain, and software development,” Pohlmann explains. “This company has a seven-year history supporting many of the world’s leading Proximity Detection System Vendors with their need to implement effective Level 9 machine control intervention.”

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While Nerospec, one of Nerospec SK’s parent companies, has been focused on the demands of the South African market, Nerospec SK’s ambition is to expand that success worldwide using the global sales distribution infrastructure of the Schmidt Kranz Group. Schmidt Kranz boasts a portfolio of German originated mining companies that build trucks, loaders, underground drill equipment, crushers and tunnel boring machines, altogether working in mining equipment supply, besides other activities.

Between these two companies, Nerospec SK is positioned to revolutionise the mining industry.

“This is exactly what we’re doing with the Nerospec SK company right now, building on the assets of the shareholder companies,” Pohlmann says. “We’re active in

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Germany, Kazakhstan, Russia, Australia, Chile, Mongolia, Canada, the USA, and we’re building a distribution network.”

THE CONNECTED MINE

What does this new, Fourth Industrial Revolutionised mine look like? Pohlmann is happy to paint a picture for us.

“Most fundamentally, it means that you have data connectivity capabilities in the mines. You can use that for communication, safety, and machine data purposes,” he explains. “The concept of using your mobile phone, which everyone takes for granted on the surface, we’re bringing that underground. The first thing it means is connectivity and that’s the first major change. We have the technology ready to do that and now it’s becoming increasingly affordable and readily available.”

For the WiFi network, Nerospec SK has completely developed its own product called the neroPOYNT, a WiFi booster designed to work in tunnel environments through effective radio wave propagation. The result is data connectivity that can reach up to 800 metres from one antenna in the tunnel.

“We leverage the design of the tunnel, and that’s a unique innovation we’re contributing to make that vision live underground,” Pohlmann points out.

The result is an underground mine environment very different to what we see in most mines today. It will also be an environment that feels far more natural to the next generation of mine workers.

“You will have connectivity everywhere in the mine. You will have mobile machinery and people who can connect at any time, accessing real-time data,” Pohlmann says. “This is far from common or readily available in underground mines today, but that will just be the natural requirement. Young people coming into mining will expect that and find it natural.”

This means more than simply being able to check your emails or make a mobile phone call from within the mine. It can save lives.

“A key difference is that based on this technology people will know where they are, how to navigate, the most efficient way to get to their target and know where the emergency exits are,” Pohlmann says. “It allows for autonomous machine controllers to position themselves relative to the rock with high accuracy, which is an essential pre-requisite for automated machine operation, contributing to health and safety, and assisting to prevent

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loss of lives to miners around the world.” ”Leading Mining Houses are currently investing in stateof-the-art Collision Avoidance Systems implemented across the full fleet of equipment and personnel.

Nerospec SK is experienced in working with these various Collision Avoidance System Vendors, assisting them to seamlessly expand the capabilities of their own systems by integrating with nerospec SK’s Simultaneous Location And Mapping (SLAM) technologies.” These systems automatically slow down and stop vehicles before a collision. This automatic system reaction is the most advanced Level 9 machine intervention technology defined by the Earth Moving Equipment Safety Round Table. Just recently the ISO 21815-2 standard has been taken into the J1939 machine communication protocol, which now makes this state-ofthe-art technology desirable and inevitable for the safetyconscious mining sector. Finally improving safety and saving miners lives.”

Among these innovations, Nerospec SK is implementing the capability to position vehicles or measure the position of vehicles without optical technologies, which can be obscured by the dust or dirt common in mines.

Instead, it uses ultra-wideband technology, or UWB, radio technology that triangulates the machine’s position using different reference points or tags.

“We’re delivering far more superior solutions than are currently known in the industry, so we’re at the start of a technology breakthrough in that range,” Pohlmann says with justifiable pride.

Outside of mining, one of the big steps expected from 4IR is

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the advent of the self-driving car age. A lot of development has gone into this area, but roads are complex, unpredictable places, and a safe, practical solution still seems a long way off. However, in underground mines the conditions are different.

“We all expect autonomous vehicles coming onto the roads in the next years. That’s very complex compared to an underground mine environment,” Pohlmann says.

“Bringing that into underground mines is far less of a challenge.

Autonomous vehicles will come into play in the next few years.

It’s in everyone’s interest.

Autonomous Mining vehicles improve productivity by allowing production to continue during

times where personnel cannot access the worksite safely.”

It is a future that Nerospec SK is working hard to bring about, aiming to complete 2,500 digital solution installations by 2025.

“We are on course to complete that, absolutely. The demand in the market is significant. There’s a lot of interest from Proximity Detection System Vendors, particularly for our Machine Level 9 Control and Interface Solutions, and with that goes the need for collecting vehicle data for productivity tracking and improvement solutions,” Pohlmann says. “We’re on track to achieve that and with that, we are growing the Nerospec SK joint venture to an 8-millioneuro turnover by 2025.”

“WE’RE ON TRACK TO ACHIEVE THAT AND WITH THAT, WE ARE GROWING THE NEROSPEC SK JOINT VENTURE TO AN 8-MILLIONEURO TURNOVER BY 2025.”

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