Rabat - Chinese telecommunication infrastructure provider Huawei announced on Monday that its operating system MineHarmony OS is entering a “large-scale” commercial use phase, as 5G technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) take smart mining to a new level.

One year after Huawei released its MineHarmony OS, the company’s solution is now commercially viable for smart mining – using state-of-the-art telecommunication technology to enhance the productivity and safety of mining operations.

Speaking at Huawei Connect 2022, Huawei Executive Ken Hu highlighted the company's commitment to working with partners to help its industrial customers choose the right technology for their needs.

“To provide our customers with scenario-based solutions that truly meet their needs,” Hu said, “we have to work side-by-side to truly understand the challenges in their industry.”

According to Hu, just one year after its inception, Huawei’s MineHarmony team has made solid progress. A joint innovation of Huawei and China Energy Investment Corporation, MineHarmony has been deployed on 3,300 pieces of telecommunication equipment across 13 mines and one coal-washing plant.

The system has been deployed in the Wulanmulun (also known as Ulan Moran) mine in Inner Mongolia, resulting in “significant progress” in terms of enhancing connectivity, interface and data access.

The Huawei operating system enabled the Wulanmulun mine to reduce operations’ time significantly. The list of scenarios that the operating system covers includes intelligent equipment control, automatic patrol of fixed sites, and online equipment upgrades, which have been reduced from one day to just four minutes.

Explaining the myriad of challenges facing the smart mining digital transformation, Huawei maintained in a statement that establishing equipment interconnectivity and interoperability, and data inaccessibility are major hurdles.

To overcome this challenge, Huawei seeks to find the most suitable network technologies and uses its 5G capabilities as well as its all-optical connectivity with FTTM and IPv6+ (technologies with low latency and high reliability) in smart mining.

Connecting devices and equipment running on different protocols underground is also a significant challenge for smart mining, the company reckons in the statement.

To overcome this challenge, Huawei and China Energy teamed up with more than 30 partners to develop the OS, which is the first of its kind to use the Internet of Things (IoT) in the mining sector in the span of three months.

In addition to providing unified protocols for different equipment, MineHarmony also “simplifies operations” through unattended inspections.

“The system covers equipment of all sizes and uses unified protocols that enable data sharing between devices and interconnectivity between users and devices,” Huawei’s statement indicated.

Through the use of 5G and AI video assembly technologies, MineHarmony now enables its users to control mining machines remotely and accurately, allowing people working in offices to control underground operations. This feature improves the working environment and enhances mining safety.

“With 5G transmitting real-time video feed from the main strips, and AI algorithms accurately identifying anomalies, the system transforms manual, time-based inspections into intelligent 24/7 monitoring, while reducing the number of people involved in underground inspection by 20%,” the statement added.

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