Reliable communication in mine environments for autonomous vehicles
Abstract: Automation in the mining industry has the potential to increase safety and productivity while improving working conditions. Ore transportation within the mine is a repetitive task which is well suited to be replaced by an autonomous mining vehicle operating around the clock. Scania, a world leader in sustainable transport solutions is investigating this new concept of vehicle. The autonomous operation is enabled by several technologies installed on the vehicle, including a communication system object of this thesis. Connectivity among vehicles is required in order to coordinate paths and exchange mission critical information. In this thesis, after identifying the challenges of wireless propagations in mines, the communication technology is chosen and possible antenna configurations and communication ranges are found. Through numerical link-budget simulations and subsequent range measurements, the potential communication range of this vehicle has been quantified. The results show the effectiveness of height diversity in extending the communication range. Lastly, the performance degradation caused by dust accumulated on the antennas is discussed.
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