Successful digital mining project continues

By using the latest mobile network technology, Swedish companies, universities and research institutes have collaborated to make it possible to remote control and automate activities in the mine. The project will now continue with the objective to enable mining operators, maintenance personnel, equipment and machines from different suppliers to be connected and share data. That will create increased safety and productivity in the mine. An innovative way of thinking that enables new services that also can be used in other industries.

The participating partners in PIMM DMA, the Digitalized Mining Arena, are ABB, Atlas Copco, Boliden, Ericsson, InfoVista, RISE, Telia, Volvo Construction Equipment and Wolfit.

The project creates conditions for the development of new smart services that enable further automation and remote control, and thus contribute to a more efficient and safe mining. That means that the machines in the mine are connected through the mobile network and can communicate and share data without problems and that new machines, systems or businesses easily can connect to the network.

The goal is that the insights provided in the project and the solutions tested in the mine can be reused in other industries that are now being digitalized.

- This is a project in forefront of technology, with participating partners from major Swedish companies, and we see the project as a beacon. We hope that the results will inspire other Swedish actors to work with digitalization in their industries. We also expect increased competitiveness for Swedish companies, says Eilert Johansson, project manager at RISE.

- The ambition in this project is to develop the technical ability with associated ways of working and processes to be able to interact in a digital, connected ecosystem. We hope it will be a catalyst and inspiration for new thoughts and ideas on how to create value through digitalization in a variety of industries, says Magnus Leonhardt, Strategy and Innovation Manager, Telia Sweden.

- It´s really exciting to be involved in the development of mobile technology for the industry together with strong partners. For InfoVista, this is an important project for developing new technologies for quality assurance of future mobile networks, says Adrian Jakobsson, VP Product Management and R&D, InfoVista, Network Testing.

- We look forward to the cooperation and the results of the PIMM DMA project. From Atlas Copco we value the collaboration with the best possible partners on questions related to digitalization in mining and tunnel environments, says Mattias Pettersson, Global Product Line Manager Automation, Atlas Copco.

- We see that people working in the mine have greater influence and can do more through digitalization. Processes can, for example, continue even when people can´t be in the mine because of exhausts from blasting, says Eilert Johansson, project manager at RISE.

Different roles in the ecosystem

• Telia, Ericsson and InfoVista will be responsible for further developing and optimizing the mobile network built in the mine and test technology that, in the future, can be used in the next generation mobile network, 5G. Telia is also responsible for developing and testing the technical platform that is the hub of the digital ecosystem in the mine.
• ABB will work on solutions to via mobile communication connect operation and maintenance personnel in the mine to process data from the production system 800xA.Atlas Copco and Volvo Construction Equipment will connect their products and solutions to the mobile network. Atlas Copco will connect and remote control drill rigs and Volvo CE will expand the tests from the previous PIMM project with more advanced remote control and monitoring of the machine’s maintenance needs. The purpose is to understand how to create value from connected machines as well as explore how data retrieved from equipment can be shared between project participant’s systems to develop new services and automate additional processes in the mine. All in order to meet Boliden’s goal of increasing safety for people working in the mine and productivity in the mine through automation and remote control.

PIMM DMA is co-funded by Vinnova and the strategic innovation program PiiA and by participating project partners.

For more information Contact:

Eilert Johansson, project manager RISE

Phone: 070-241 86 68

Mail: eilert.johansson@ri.se

The RISE institutes Innventia, SP, and Swedish ICT have merged in order to become a stronger research and innovation partner. Through our international collaboration programmes with academia, industry, and the public sector, we ensure the competitiveness of the Swedish business community on an international level and contribute to a sustainable society. Our 2,200 employees support and promote all manner of innovative processes, and our roughly 100 testbeds and demonstration facilities are instrumental in developing the future-proofing of products, technologies, and services. RISE Research Institutes of Sweden is fully owned by the Swedish state. www.ri.se