Constancia mine in Peru is the latest industrial application to use LTE to improve its operations, with the help of broadband communications technology company Rajant Corporation.
Rajant and STRACONTech, a mining company that provides integrated technology services focused on the mining sector, say they have increased bandwidth and improved networking coverage at the large copper mine in south Peru with Rajant’s Peregrine LTE BreadCrumb wireless nodes.
Rajant says its solution for mobility allows an almost “plug-and-play” integration with the mine’s existing LTE network. Specifically, according to Eduardo Rojas, IT Manager for Constancia owner Hudbay Peru: “Our mining operation needed a better design for its haulage and loading fleet. With the Rajant hybrid solution we now have a significant increase in bandwidth, which will allow us to be more efficient.”
With the Rajant Peregrine LTE, the mine obtained a 4x performance improvement, going from a limit of 10Mbps with LTE up to 40 Mbps.
The Rajant Peregrine LTE allows connectivity on multiple frequencies simultaneously, including LTE. This means connectivity is not lost with the mining fleet, even when there is interference on the 2.4GHz, 5GHz or LTE band.
The Rajant and STRACONTech teams started with a proof of concept, resulting in a larger phased installation, delivering improved performance. STRACONTech’s team explains: “We measured 30-32 Mbps at one kilometre, while the mine’s LTE had a ceiling of 10 Mbps. Moreover, the investment in the Peregrine LTE was a one-time cost for the mine without recurring annual software or maintenance costs.”