MOTOTRBO™ BOOSTING PRODUCTIVITY AND KEEPING MINERS SAFE FOR EFFICIENT COAL MINE OPERATIONS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

CASE STUDY BOOSTING PRODUCTIVITY AND KEEPING MINERS SAFE WITH MOTOTRBO™ CAPACITY PLUS

AVAILABLE, RELIABLE AND CLEAR VOICE COMMUNICATION FOR MINERS AND HEAVY machinery OPERATORS WITH DIGITAL MOTOTRBO™ CAPACITY PLUS

BANOVIĆI COAL MINE

Banovići coal mine – RMU Banovići is a company engaged in the mining of the coal and its production, processing, and distribution. RMU Banovići is an important driver for the Banovići since coal mine produces over 1.500.000 tons of separated coal. It has two surface coal pits, and one underground mine, with the special units taking care of the railway transportation, separation, and preparation for the coal export, all while employing almost 3.000 people. MIBO Komunikacije d.o.o. Sarajevo, specialists in two-way communications technologies for more than 20 years, provided the much-needed solution for the RMU Banovići. It installed a MOTOTRBO™ professional Capacity Plus digital two-way radio network. Such network is providing higher capacity for calls and flawless voice communications in the entire coal mine area to help keep users safe and improve incident response.

“With the introduction of the MOTOTRBO Capacity Plus digital radio system in our company, we have gained a number of advantages. In addition to better sound quality and better coverage, the additional capacity allows all groups to have an uninterrupted conversation, so that our system is always available.”
Minela Čergić – Džamkić, Engineer for information and communication systems

CHALLENGE

Banovići coal mine produces over 1.500.000 tons of coal, annually. It had used 66-88MHz analogue two-way radio system, but the technology was old, bulky, and talk groups were occupied in crucial moments. Additionally, coverage area was a big issue with lots of blind spots identified throughout the mine area. Congestion was a challenge and availability was poor, so users often had to think of different ways to relay messages. Also, bulky radios were hard to find and operate. Reliable coverage across all locations was therefore an absolute necessity. With communications critical to ensuring the efficiency of operations and coordinating response in the event of emergencies, a new communications solution was needed. Important fact is that operations in Banovići coal mine happen in a noisy environment requiring to heavy – duty accessories.

SOLUTION

Working with long-time Motorola channel partner, MIBO Komunikacije Ltd., Banovići coal mine replaced their existing analogue system with MOTOTRBO™ Capacity plus digital radio system. Because of the large number of talk groups and huge amount of traffic, Capacity Plus was the right way to go.  For higher capacity, our partner implemented two DR3000 / SLR5500 repeaters in Capacity Plus that deliver twice the calling capacity of a MOTOTRBO™ digital conventional system. All organizational units rely extensively on MOTOTRBO™ radios every day, from miners, maintenance, security to railroad transport, and even administrative workers. Miners use more than 100 DM/DP4000 series two-way digital radios. Most of the radios are IP67 compliant, resisting dust and moisture ingress, and withstanding the drops and knocks associated with use in a heavy industrial environment.

BENEFITS

With Capacity Plus, engineers, miners, operations staff, maintenance, management & railway teams now have their own separate talk groups, ensuring that everyone can have access to voice communication when they need to, without disturbing other groups or having to wait for a channel to become available. MOTOTRBO’s TDMA technology with two repeaters in Capacity Plus doubles the capacity so Banovići coal mine has four talk channels in total forlarge number of groups and high volume of traffic. Also, the new Capacity Plus system is improving efficiency and productivity. The handsets’ noise cancellation capability has substantially improved audio quality and voice clarity so information and job specifications can be passed on to all users quickly with no risk of misunderstanding. Costs are also falling compared to the old analogue devices due to improved reliability and the fact that incidents are resolved faster to cut downtime.

KEY BENEFITS

• Double system capacity – 4 (four) talk paths, doubles MOTOTRBO™ digital conventional system
• Improved call quality – noise cancellation on handsets improves voice clarity
• Increased productivity – job specs to groups of miners simultaneously, eliminating the need to make individual calls
• Reduced downtime – Damaged devices are instantly replaced so no miner is ever out of action
• Improved incident response – help comes in seconds which can save lives
• Group communication – for greater productivity on the field