Experts say field results show a wireless network can serve as the backbone for the digitized mine of the future

Cutting edge wireless networks supporting both underground and surface mining are no longer simply an innovative idea or wishful thinking by telecom-sector suppliers. The recent headlines from the space show the same unremitting optimism native to yesterday’s pressers on WiFi, 4G and 5G networks, and related technologies. Reading between the lines, though, the overarching picture is of a technology that slowly, installation by installation, is proving its viability. Suppliers say wireless network technologies can and will deliver on their promises.

Innovative Wireless Technologies (IWT) introduced three complementary solutions that increase network capacity, extend visibility, and transform raw data into actionable information.

“Individually, the SENTINEL Fiber Gateway Node, Wireless Ventilation Monitor and IWT Analytics Platform address specific challenges facing modern underground mines,” IWT said. “Together, they form an integrated ecosystem that enhances network performance, improves situational awareness and supports data-driven decision-making.”

The SENTINEL Fiber Gateway Node (FGN) is used to expand a wireless system, or to add a wireless system to a wired one. “The FGN allows mines with fiber optic networks for underground operations to easily and quickly overlay SENTINEL Wireless Communication Systems and WiFi services,” IWT said.

An expert with the company said it removes common throughput limitations that arise as underground networks evolve. “IWT developed the FGN to facilitate the deployment of wireless communications networks underground,” said Paul May, product manager for IWT. The node “operates as a hub for the rest of the SENTINEL wireless mesh products, allowing wireless services to quickly and easily be deployed.”

It provides WiFi for real-time monitoring, analytics, video services and more. “The FGN’s integrated 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz WiFi access point enables applications such as video conferencing, fixed or mobile video monitoring and other IP-based services underground,” May said. “With FGN, mines can build out the SENTINEL wireless voice, data, tracking and environmental monitoring capabilities as needed.”

The FGN can also serve “as a gateway that enables wireless communications to be partitioned across underground networks,” IWT said. “This segmentation allows operators to increase overall communications capacity while improving reliability and performance as networks scale across multiple sections or districts.”

The node can be configured for either line power or external battery options. IWT said it allows “mines to extend existing fiber infrastructure into new development areas or temporary work zones with minimal disruption.”

Among the technologies the node can support is the newly released SENTINEL Wireless Ventilation Monitor (WVM), which can capture data on airflow in “hard-to-reach areas, enabling faster identification and resolution of ventilation disruptions,” IWT said. An expert at IWT said the solution is a game-changer.

“Traditionally, locating the source of a ventilation disruption requires sending personnel underground to physically walk large sections of the mine and manually check airflow measurements and ventilation controls,” said Chad Barnett, product manager. “This inefficient approach is both time-consuming and labor-intensive.”

The WVM negates the need for that role and those tasks. The monitors can be strategically placed to give “mine personnel the ability to remotely monitor ventilation from the surface,” Barnett said. “This real-time airflow data across multiple locations supports rapid identification of airflow disruptions and limits physical inspections to a targeted zone resulting in improved response efficiency and overall safety for the underground miners.”

The WVM is available in three configurations: ventilation-only monitoring; that, plus gas sensing; and both, plus communications and tracking capability. “This modular approach allows mines to deploy the appropriate level of functionality based on site-specific safety requirements and individualized monitoring needs,” IWT said.

The third solution to drop, the IWT Analytics Platform, turns mine network data into actionable information. “The Analytics Platform serves as a centralized decision system that brings personnel location, production activity, atmospheric conditions, asset performance and compliance data into a single, unified view,” IWT said.

With that view “mine teams can see how people, work, equipment and conditions intersect within the same shift, section and time window,” IWT said. “Live operational views and historical analysis show who is underground and where, how work and equipment are performing during the shift, and whether environmental or ventilation conditions are changing.” That capability can prevent “blind spots and give teams a consistent, data-backed understanding of underground activity.”

The platform is scalable and modular for easy and incremental adoption. “Available modules include Location, Production, Atmospheric, Compliance, Asset Performance Management and Forms, enabling users to align the platform with their operational priorities and regulatory obligations,” IWT said. “Integrated directly with IWT’s communications and tracking network, Analytics uses trusted operational data to support confident decision-making across the mine.”

Prysmian reported the AIRGUARD XP fiber cable is being deployed to lithium surface mines in Quebec. Separately, the ezLink Loose Tube Mining fiber cable is being deployed to expanding nickel mines in Ontario.

The mines have decided to upgrade the communications infrastructure earlier in the project lifecycle, driven by automation, underground IoT, safety requirements and things of that nature,” said Jerry Knight, sales manager.

The mining-class cables can withstand extreme mechanical stress, temperature swings, moisture, chemical exposure, “and just the frequent hammering that occurs during expansions, moves and change cycles,” he said.

Both cables are all-dielectric and dual jacketed. Being all-dielectric, “they are just as flexible as any other dielectric cable,” said Paul Baird, applications engineering specialist. The inner and outer jacket “gives them a higher compressive strength, known as crush,” he said. The cables can sustain a “greater compressive load than can single-jacket cables.” And with an inner and outer jacket, “you can add additional strength members to increase the tensile rating to 1,000 pounds instead of the typical 600-pound tensile rating.”

The AIRGUARD XP fiber cable features a chlorinated polyethylene outer jacket that is chemical and petroleum resistant. “That is why it is used widely in the Alberta oil sands,” he said.

Both cables are gel-filled buffer tubes. “These days, everyone wants to have them gel-free, so it is easier to do splicing,” Baird said. “But we recommend gel-filled because the environments are harsh and the water is often brackish and may contain minerals, salts and so forth. If there is water that enters these buffer tubes by accident, a gel-free design will not stop the water flow, whereas a gel-filled design will.”

A gel-free cable offers marginal time savings when splicing, “but you give up a lot in terms of fiber protection over time for just a few minutes of time savings,” he said.

Knight said that because the fiber count is low, the time savings offered by gel-free cables is negligible. “Wiping off the gel, you are talking a matter of honestly just some alcohol and de-gel and a rag, and you are talking seconds, not minutes, really, to wipe the gel off before the splice.”

Both cables are available with different fibers. “Shorter distances tend to be your multi-mode fibers,” Baird said. For longer, single-fiber cables, “we often recommend the bend and sensitive single-mode fiber, the ITU 657.A1.”

Both cables are described as easy to work with. “These are loose-tube optical cables, and all splicers who have any experience whatsoever know how to work with loose-tube cables,” he said. “They can easily open up the cables and access the fibers, clean them off and splice them.”

Both cables were originally designed in the 1990s in partnership with the mines. “The AIRGUARD XP fiber cable was developed in conjunction with some oil sand operators because they were specifically looking for a rugged cable,” Baird said. “It has the chemical resistance that they needed.”

The ezLINK Loose Tube Mining fiber cable was designed for underground nickel mines. “The Sudbury mines asked us to make it with a purple jacket to distinguish it from all other types of cables in the underground mines. “From there, the applications are continuing to grow,” he said.

Knight said both cables could grow market share in the mining industry as the communications paradigm shifts with the advent of autonomous operations and the networks they require. “Mining IT networks are no longer afterthoughts,” he said. “They are core operational infrastructure.”

Lynq Networks is searching for early adopters in the mining industry to trial RavenTalk, wireless communications technology originally developed for military applications.

“RavenTalk is a wireless, end-to-end encrypted voice and data solution that instantly forms a self-healing mesh network when devices are powered on,” the supplier said. “Users can immediately begin talking and sharing data securely, even in dynamic, infrastructure-denied environments.”

A RavenTalk network can be comprised of as few as two units, which can be built into helmets, headsets or handsets. “The device that is easiest to visualize is a headset, often a noise-cancelling headset. What we do is we integrate our technology inside the ear cup of that headset,” said CEO Adam Gould. “What it does for you is it allows a large team of people, 20, 30, even 50 people to all be collaborating together, speaking to each other over a range of potentially hundreds of meters, multiple football fields.”

The technology, which is “about the size of quarter,” works as a node to support a mesh network, he said. “As long as you have people that are strung through the mine, everybody is just sort of acting as a mesh node.”

Or the technology could be built into a special-purpose node “just for a repeating functionality whereby you drop it somewhere. It doesn’t have to be installed, per se,” Gould said. “It could be battery-powered and you just kind of toss it where needed.”

The mesh requires no fixed infrastructure. “That is the great thing,” he said. “There is no need for any sort of base station or access point.”

When the headsets are on, the mesh is live and encrypted. When they are off, the network disappears. “The difference with a two-way radio system is this is a whole lot of people, all collaborating, all talking at the same time or potentially talking at the same time, having a group conversation,” Gould said.

The headset, handset, or helmet-set can be voice activated or push-to-talk.

RavenTalk operates “in the 1.8/1.9-GHz globally-allocated spectrum as well as the 915 MHz ISM band in the USA,” Lynq Networks said. It “runs on top of DECT NR+, a high-performance, non-cellular 5G standard for Internet of Things and industrial applications, enabling long-range, reliable communications.”

The technology filters out refracted signals, making it ideal for operating in a mine with highwalls. “It works well even in the presence of what they call multi-path signals,” Gould said.

RavenTalk is also largely resistant to electromagnetic fog, he said. “The frequency band that we operate in is not really used by anything else. So it is pretty clean.”

These capabilities are supported by a modulating chipset. “It is called OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing). Older systems don’t use it,” he said. “It is the same kind of modulation that all of the 5G radios use as well.”

The signal is heavily encrypted. “One of our first markets is more on the military side of things,” Gould said. A SEAL team deployed “at zero dark thirty would pick up one of these small units, a little bit bigger than a pager,” he said. “Those SEAL team members would turn it on. The network would form around them. They are deployed in the field over a range of miles and they would be able to share their location, set target destinations and message each other.”

A communications system with no infrastructure and IT support requirements is ideal in the Ukraine, Gould said. “Having this sort of decentralized communications capability was very important to them.”

A RavenTalk mesh network can also support data. For example, “it could be used for sensor data,” he said. For a mesh network dedicated strictly to data, Lynq Networks offers RavenConnect. Both RavenTalk and Raven-
Connect can be monitored by a back-end platform called RavenView.

“RavenView is sort of a single pane of glass where you can have a screen that is monitoring what is happening in your network, getting alerts if a sensor goes down, or a battery level or something goes too low, or somebody goes out of range,” Gould said. “You can set all kinds of different alerts in there.”

The hardware for RavenView is a gateway node that can connect to a network for data backhaul. RavenView software lives in the cloud. From there, it talks to the RavenTalk network through the gateway.

“RavenView kind of connects to that gateway and then is able to speak to all the nodes,” he said. The gateway could be connected to a cellular network “so you could be speaking somewhere on the other side of the world all the way into a headset that is inside the mine.”

Lynq Networks said the technology will most likely be built into the ear cup of a noise-cancelling headset identical to those that users are already accustomed to wearing. Hearing protection is increasingly mandated across multiple industries, Gould said.

“The value-add to the hearing protection ends up being situational awareness,” he said. “From a safety perspective, the next part of it is making sure that your hands are free and available.”

i.safe MOBILE launched the IS380.1, a 4G radio device that runs on the company’s Android-based operating system. Offering push-to-talk over cellular, the device “seamlessly bridges the gap between conventional radio communication and modern mobile networks,” the supplier said.

“The IS380.1 offers the familiar ergonomics of radio devices,” i.safe MOBILE said. This allows an organization to further its digital transformation “without disrupting established workflows.” Users benefit from both the “intuitive radio-style interface” as well as the “worldwide coverage and advanced features of 4G networks.”

The device can run on 2G, 3G and 4G networks. It features an emergency SOS button next to the antenna. “The front-facing amplified loudspeaker delivers exceptional audio clarity even in the noisiest industrial environments,” the supplier said. The device can be used to operate a remote speaker microphone, headset, or heavy-duty headset. The battery is removable and can be charged separately.

“The IS380.1 seamlessly integrates into unified communication solutions through third-party radio-over-IP gateways,” i.safe MOBILE said. “This enables organizations to connect their existing VHF/UHF radio networks with cellular push-to-talk applications.”

The device is built for applications in harsh environments. It “is certified to IP68 standards for dust and water ingress protection,” the company said. “MIL-STD 810H certification covers shock, vibration and extreme temperature performance.”

This article was adapted from a larger communications piece that was originally published in the March 2026 edition of Engineering & Mining Journal (E&MJ).