Digital radio technology and the future of mining communications

The issue of mining safety continues to be a hot topic in our resource-rich nation, and mining companies must consider myriad factors to ensure the safety of their workforce: workplace wellbeing and fatigue, emergency and rescue response, eliminating hazards and effective training. These are first and foremost when it comes to enabling the safety of miners, both above and below the surface.

Another important element of any discussion on mine safety is communications, and that debate often leads to an analysis of the communications technology currently deployed on mine sites.

Radio communications has become an Occupational Health and Safety staple, with mines relying on the technology not only for operations, but safety-critical communications. It is the design of the radios - and more recently, the evolution to digital - that has made the radio a must-have on a mine site.

A good way to better understand how important that design is in an emergency would be to try the following experiment. You should have your smartphone within reach and some gardening gloves.

First put on the gloves and imagine you are down a mine shaft in total darkness, needing to make a call to your work mates above ground. Reach into your pocket and see how long it takes you to make a quick call to the "outside world" on your touch screen smartphone.

Now imagine you had a simple radio with a large and easily locatable 'push-to-talk' button on the side, which ran on a dedicated network. You could find that button blindfolded.

This is just one of the many benefits of using radios in mine site communications: very often, it is the simplicity of radio that could save a miner's life in critical moments.

In the past, analogue radio has served this purpose well. But work safety standards have evolved and workplaces now demand a communications system with far greater resiliency, scope and capability - the digital radio.

Analogue, two-way radios have come a long way and have been given a significant facelift. Today, digital radio is to analogue what Blu-ray is to VHS.

More simultaneous talking paths are possible on a digital radio system, and information such as unit ID, status buttons, and enhanced text messages can be embedded into a single digital radio channel.

Digital radio systems can be implemented using existing infrastructure, therefore costing less and taking less time to implement, while existing analogue radios can also be used on a digital platform, further reducing those costs.

Finally, the digital conversion of a user's voice reduces external background noises, so the platform is ideal for reducing environmental noise levels while communicating in, say, a mineshaft.

Open-standard platforms like TETRA, APCO P25, and DMR are three digital standards that are helping extend radio frequency coverage underground and on vast remote sites.

Broadband wireless connectivity is also becoming increasingly important as miners depend on it to connect to, communicate with and control remote applications such as real-time video.

Regardless of platform, the importance of radio for mission-critical mining communications hasn't gone away. If you are ever in doubt of what benefits the trusty radio can provide, just remember back to when you tried to text on your smartphone in the dark in gardening gloves.

Source: ABC technology and Games