HomeNewsMobile Technology News Strix Systems Access/One Wireless Mesh Network Covers 25-Square Mile Mobile Coal Mining Operations
Mobile Technology Event
Nokia World - 2-3 December 2008, Centre Convencions Internacional, Barcelona - Nokia World brings this experience to life with thought-provoking seminars, top-level keynote speakers, interactive experiences, and a legendary party!
Suggested White Paper... Mobile Device Management Done Inexpensively - In
this white paper, Enterprise Mobility's, Phil Lachmann will present
many of the problems that companies face when attempting to deploy and
manage mobile computing devices, as well as some potential solutions.
Strix Systems Access/One Wireless Mesh Network Covers 25-Square Mile Mobile Coal Mining Operations
Written by Strix Systems
Tuesday, 07 August 2007
Falkirk Mining Gains Throughput, Reliability, Ease of Implementation and Administration with Strix Solution
CALABASAS, Calif.- Strix Systems, the leader in high-performance
wireless mesh networking, today announced that The Falkirk Mining
Company, a subsidiary of The North American Coal Corp., the nation’s
largest lignite coal producer, has deployed Strix’s Access/One® Network
Outdoor Wireless Systems (OWS) and Access/One® Network Edge Wireless
System 150 (EWS 150) at its Falkirk surface coal mine in North Dakota.
Falkirk Mining’s wireless mesh network, which currently covers over 25
square miles and continues to grow, is used for critical logistics data
communications to constantly moving coal trucks and bulldozing
equipment. Multiple simultaneously active mobile network hotzones roam
across the mine at any one time.
Falkirk mines approximately eight million tons of lignite coal
annually, using large earthmoving equipment. Giant mobile dragline
cranes expose the coal which is then loaded into oversized 200-ton haul
trucks that dump the coal into Falkirk’s crushing facility. Dozers then
re-grade the land for eventual return to area landowners, farmers, and
ranchers. The company has installed a wireless network system into
nearly every type of equipment used throughout the mining process —
including survey trucks, scrapers, bulldozers, blades, coal trucks,
excavators, shovels, pickup laptops, and large draglines — to help
ensure it meets the precise performance in reclamation and high safety
standards that make the company a prime example of the modern coal
industry.
“We are always moving mining operations to different geographic areas,
while continuing to grow our operations,” said Darin Jacobson,
information systems technician at Falkirk Mining Company. “We are
implementing the Strix solution because we needed a wireless mesh
network that offered resilient and reliable mobility and high speed,
enterprise-class security in an easily-deployed product. Strix’s
modular design and its advanced, innovative architecture made it the
right choice for Falkirk, especially since Strix can cover large areas
with only a few nodes.”
Falkirk Mining is now deploying the EWS 150 into its ground equipment
and phasing out its existing equipment. The EWS 150s have a
high-performance Wi-Fi connection to Strix’s Access/One OWS devices,
which are deployed throughout the area the mine covers, thus enabling
an end-to-end wireless experience and seamless and resilient roaming.
The Strix OWS network in turn has a backhauled connection to Falkirk
Mining’s enterprise LAN.
At the Falkirk mine, the network enables data transmissions to and from
the mining equipment. Coal trucks are linked to an innovative GPS
system which uses 802.11 to relay logistics information to the central
office network, which tracks vehicle locations, active and planned
mining areas, and time sensitive operations data. Draglines, for
example, constantly report productivity information back to servers,
while remote pump locations relay their electronic status to the
central monitoring and control program. The Strix OWS/EWS solution
gives the IT department the throughput, reliability, ease of
implementation and administration it needs to meet their internal
network requirements and provide optimal access to new and innovative
resources.
“Just as the Strix EWS and OWS provides timely and critical data in
public safety networks, these solutions can always prove to be critical
in enterprise applications as well,” said Tom Mooreland, Strix Systems.
“In situations where a delay of seconds can cause a monetary loss, drop
in productivity, or even injury, Strix’s low latency, high-performance
solution provides the market’s strongest wireless mesh network option.”
About Strix OWS, IWS, and EWS
The Strix Access/One OWS and IWS modular mesh products deliver the
largest capacity (up to six radios and 768 users per node, three to six
times the norm), highest throughput (five times the norm at 35 Mbps),
and best scalability (users can add more radio boards or new
technologies). The Access/One EWS provides a high-performance backhaul
Wi-Fi connection to Strix’s Access/One OWS and IWS, enabling an
end-to-end wireless experience and seamless inside/outside roaming. An
independent wireless mesh test, sponsored by Light Reading and
completed in June 2006, found Strix’s OWS 2400-30 delivers the best
throughput and capacity and the greatest scalability for voice
applications and mobility/roaming. Strix networks scale to 10 or more
wireless hops with near-zero throughput loss and latency, enabling
customers to deliver real-time applications with a minimum of wired
connections for a given area, which reduces CapEx and OpEx.
About Strix Systems
Strix Systems is the worldwide leader in wireless mesh networking.
Strix’s Access/One products are the industry’s only modular
(chassis-based) mesh systems, delivering the largest capacity, highest
throughput and best scalability. This new generation of products
provides the broadband mobility and reach to support voice, video, and
data applications. Sold globally by a network of first-class
distributors and integrators, Access/One solutions have been deployed
in hundreds of networks worldwide, outdoor and indoor, for service
providers, metros, public safety, government, energy, transportation,
hospitality, education, enterprises, and residential markets. For more
information about Strix Systems, please visit www.strixsystems.com.
NOTE: Strix Systems and Access/One Network are trademarks or registered
trademarks, in the United States and certain other countries, of Strix
Systems. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks of the individual companies and are respectfully
acknowledged.
Communications News
Serves the decision makers responsible for networking, voice data, and
video communications technologies at enterprise and service provider
Nokia World 2008, Barcelona Spain - With thought-provoking seminars, informed keynote speakers and a wide
range of interactive experiences, Nokia World 08 can inspire anyone and
everyone with an active interest in the business of mobility. December 2-3, 2008
PNWS is Canada’s premier wireless and new media conference delivering a compelling mix of the practical and the visionary around four themes: Ideas, Innovation, Insight, and Investment. To learn more please visit: www.pnwsummit.com. It will take place in Vancouver January 18-20, 2009.
LBSChallenge 2009 - This global program challenges application developers around the world
to build innovative location-based services (LBS) that work with mobile
phones and/or wireless handheld devices using dynamic positioning
technology and NAVTEQ maps.
Register now for the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference 2009 and save up to $300! Now in it’s eighth year, ETech is the flagship O'Reilly event that continues to deliver a first look at the technology that will reinvent the way we live. For four full days, ETech 2009 will focus on innovative new technologies just appearing on the horizon
