The project recently visited Boliden's Kankberg mine to test innovative mining automation solutions based on 5G and Edge computing, along with solutions developed within the project.
The project also developed tools for analyzing mobile network quality and performance, which were tested in the underground 5G network installed in the mine through Northstar, an innovation network by Telia and Ericsson for advanced industrial applications. Northstar is used to test new technology in mining. In Kankberg, experiments visualized how sensor data, collected from 5G-connected devices, was transferred to and analyzed in edge nodes, with the results presented. Some of the experiments focused on visualizing data from 3D Lidar, which can create 3D images of mine tunnels or be used for underground safety solutions. During live operations, network performance was also monitored in real-time to ensure the network operates optimally both in the short and long term, which is crucial for automating mining operations. Participating partners included ThingWave, BI Nordic, RISE, Flasheye, and Luleå University of Technology.
