How can a remote mine site transmit data without wireless connectivity?
We faced a unique difficulty: How could we transmit data on a remote mine site where there was no Wi-Fi or cellular coverage? Our team developed a novel solution that transmits real-time data over radio packet network. Given the low footprint of our system and the robustness of the radio network we installed, the mine operator had a rock solid, real-time view of all drivers’ drowsiness on-site.
Eagle Industrial with Dock
Our objective was to ensure the mine site in Southwest Africa had a robust, reliable data transmission platform. This involved modifying our Eagle Industrial data transmission protocol to work over a Motorola two-way Tetra Radio system. This enabled site-wide data transfer from Optalert systems and allowed the mine operator to monitor its drivers via Optalert’s IRIS and view the data in Optalert’s FRP Reports.
The data journey – data from the Eagle Industrial is sent via radio to Optalert’s cloud server. It is then available for real-time monitoring and reporting.
Background
The customer approached Optalert about trialling the Eagle Industrial early-warning drowsiness detection system, but they had a unique requirement – transmission of data via radio – due to a lack of communications infrastructure.
Optalert systems already produce a low-bandwidth data stream enabling them to transfer data in near real-time over cellular or Wi-Fi, but for the solution to work over radio, data transmission at even lower bandwidths was required.
Thus began a collaborative development project in conjunction with our customer and Getac (the manufacturer of the Eagle Industrial tablet hardware). This required changes to the Optalert vehicle-based software and Android operating system to support the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) via an external RS232 serial port. This permitted a direct interface to the radio terminals with no additional hardware or changes to the cloud-based infrastructure. No change to the Eagle Industrial data files was required, and the customer’s network was configured to pass the data from the radio network to Optalert’s FRP server in the cloud.
Outcome
A trial ran for three months and the customer was able to leverage their Tetra network via existing radio terminals in vehicles to enable drowsiness monitoring via Optalert’s IRIS.
By taking a collaborative approach, Optalert created a solution for a customer operating in a very remote location, which saved them from having to purchase and install expensive new network infrastructure. This enabled the mine operator to monitor their drivers via Optalert’s IRIS and receive daily and weekly reports based on the data transferred over the radio network.
Data mapping showing the remote operating geography of the customer mine and location of drowsiness warning events (red dots) transmitted from Optalert systems via radio network
Future
Sites that are remotely-located or greenfield often lack telecommunications infrastructure. However, they can transfer data via radio network and enable near real-time monitoring of the drowsiness levels of individual operators, as well as daily, weekly, and monthly reporting. This is a far lower-cost solution than building out a comprehensive network infrastructure. In future, we may even transfer data via satellite communication systems, further bringing down costs and increasing oversight of operations.
Contact your Optalert representative (info@optalert.com) to discuss how we can find creative solutions that bring accurate fatigue monitoring to your fleet of drivers, wherever you happen to be operating.
