Mining operations in Africa are increasingly using wireless broadband products to improve efficiency and the safety levels of their mining operations, global backhaul and broadband wireless solutions provider Radwin South & East Africa and Middle East GM Peter Turvey tells Mining Weekly.

A manganese mine near the town of Kuruman, in the Northern Cape, bought the Radwin 5000 high-capacity point-to-multipoint solution and the Radwin 2000 C carrier-class point-to-point solution in June last year. The systems are being used for security surveillance of the site, he says.

“Each video surveillance camera is connected to a Radwin 5000 high-capacity subscriber unit and the Radwin 5000 high- capacity base stations are then backhauled by Radwin 2000 Cs to the control room,” explains Turvey.

The systems have also been deployed in Zambia by Internet service provider Internet Tech-nologies Zambia (ITZ) to drive high-capacity services for large corporate clients, including banks and mining companies in the capital, Lusaka, and in the Copperbelt cities of Kitwe and Solwezi.

“Originally, ITZ planned on deploying a worldwide inter- operability for microwave access (Wimax) network, but after evaluating the Radwin 5000, we understood that it was the best option for large corporate links. The company was able to effectively plan the network using the Radwin network planning tool and the links were easy and quick to deploy,” says ITZ MD Colwyn van Rensburg.

Turvey says that the Radwin 5000 delivers about 250 Mb/s of bandwidth for each base-station sector, and it operates seamlessly in harsh conditions in licensed and unlicensed sub- 6 GHz bands.

“The Radwin 5000 and Radwin 2000 deliver dedicated bandwidth for each end-user, enabling operators to offer and meet agreed-upon service-level agreements,” he notes.

Turvey adds that both systems operate over long distances and in areas with many obstacles to the line of sight, which enables the company to meet the high-capacity needs of its corporate customers.

“Additionally, Radwin’s in-country support has been a huge benefit to our company’s operation,” he emphasises.

Glencore-Xstrata’s Philippines subsidiary, Sagittarius Mines, deployed the Radwin 2000 point-to-point system in July 2012 to connect its offices and provide voice and data backhaul between offices and tower relay sites.

Turvey points out that Radwin’s systems can also be used for video surveillance to provide video transmission from cameras to tower sites and then back to company headquarters for enhanced security monitoring.

“Sagittarius chose Radwin’s solutions, as they deliver time- division multiplexing and Ethernet in one system. The solution empowers us to establish our own backbone network instead of leasing lines from telecommunications companies, thus significantly reducing our costs,” emphasises Sagittarius Mines information technology and ser- vices head Jake Laguerder.

Moreover, in February 2011, Radwin systems were used to establish on-site communications to assist in rescuing 33 miners at the State-owned Codelco copper mine, in San Jose, Chile.

Radwin’s systems were used to ensure reliable and real-time voice, video and data communications among parties involved in the rescue. Radwin’s solution was donated by the company’s partner technology solutions provider Transworld, following a request for assistance from Codelco.

“When Coldelco turned to Transworld for assistance to create a communications link for the rescue operation, we had to have operations up and running in a day,” states Transworld wireless and video surveillance product manager Alejandro Melipillan.

He adds that, owing to Radwin’s solutions, it was possible to communicate swiftly and coordinate in real time with all parties that were involved in the trapped miners crisis, including rescue forces, hospitals, doctors and the media.

Radwin’s fibre-in-motion guarantees high-capacity connectivity to ruggedised mobile units mounted on vehicles, trains and vessels, notes Turvey.

He adds that with the system’s long-range coverage, fibrelike capacity and simple installation, the company’s fibre-in-motion solution makes provision for cost- effective deployment.

“Radwin’s fibre-in-motion solution has several uses, includ- ing video to and from patrol vehicles for perimeter security, on-board video surveillance and Internet access for rail and metro as well as video and data connectivity to and from oil rigs and ships. “It also includes video and data connectivity to remote-controlled machinery for unmanned vehicle operations at mines and ports,” concludes Turvey.