The value of timely decision making, system optimisation and continuous improvement is well understood from productivity achievements gained in industries more broadly. Mining operations are increasingly becoming data rich but remain relatively information poor. Getting information to key people who can drive improvements and translate that to value is the critical step in the industrys digital transformation. Information systems can now be implemented that allow fit-for-purpose visibility of high value operational issues using one-directional passive information flow to Internet of Things (IoT) dashboards though encrypted wireless mobile telecommunication networks and cloud infrastructure. This becomes a viable alternative to the trending and historian software solutions typically offered by higher-end Distributed Control Systems (DCSs) for high value data streams. The cloud servers hosting the dashboards can be accessed using non-proprietary intranet browsers and can generate reports, provide downloadable data and notify key decision makers through a hierarchy of notification. The IoT devices are sensor agnostic and can easily be integrated with legacy equipment commonly found in long life-of-mine operations. This adjunct solution allows improvements to be driven at the supervisor or shift level. Thresholds can be set, and day-to-day decisions made, using evidence-based data and trend analysis.
CITATION: Hadley, T D and Monch, A A, 2019. IoT dashboard implementation into mining operations using encrypted wireless mobile telecommunications and cloud infrastructure, in Proceedings Future Mining 2019, pp 127129 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).