Rajant’s BreadCrumbr wireless mesh system has been selected by Kennecott Utah Copper Corp (KUCC), the wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto, as its primary communications platform for operations within the Bingham Canyon copper mine. Rajant and its technology is described in the December issue of International Mining. The Rajant BreadCrumbr system will enable KUCC to gain additional operational efficiencies by tracking, monitoring and managing its copper mining operations.

“Enabling Kennecott to streamline its mining operations was the primary goal of using the Rajant BreadCrumb wireless mesh system,” said Gary Anderson, Senior Vice President of Mining for Rajant. “We knew they required a high number of moving wireless nodes for improving mine monitoring and control. The Rajant InstaMeshr software running on the wireless BreadCrumb units connects hundreds of devices to each other while rapidly transporting critical operational data.”

Kennecott has successfully implemented a large number of BreadCrumb systems in an interconnected network that allows loader trucks, shovels, pumps, laptops and other production equipment to communicate with each other in real-time. These systems are a mix of secure access nodes that enable data and voice communications across a meshed, self-healing network for fleet dispatch, health monitoring and other critical mining applications. Many of the devices that require wireless communications are moving at all times throughout the wireless mining infrastructure. The BreadCrumb nodes rapidly adapt to any changes in the network topology, assuring that IP traffic uptime and bandwidth are maximised.