BUCYRUS has developed an underground Miner’s Digital Assistant (MDA) which could help improve safety in Australia’s mining industry.
The supplier says the system is compatible with sophisticated wireless and fibre-optic communication technologies with high baud rates.
Bucyrus says that in the past, most control circuits in mines involved low data transfer rates via copper wires, so a circuit analyser was an adequate troubleshooting. But the advent of Ethernet, IP connections, fibre optics and wireless technology, more sophisticated test and measurement equipment was required.
The intrinsically safe MDA can be used in network and maintenance tasks in explosion-hazard areas. A serial port allows direct connection to embedded controls such as Bucyrus’ Programmable Mining Controllers (PMCs), while a diagnostic port allows monitoring of communications and signal quality.
The device is IP-65 rated and is approved for underground use in several countries, including Australia.