What is a smart mine? What problem can be solved?

Generally speaking, smart mines and traditional mines are like smart phones and feature phones. Feature phones can only be used for voice calls, while smart phones have a variety of software automatic management and high-speed communication functions. Traditional mines are stupid and rely on manual work; The smart mine is based on the premise and basis of digitization and informationization of the mine, active perception, automatic analysis and rapid processing of mine production, occupational health and safety, technical support and logistics support, etc., to build a smart mine, and finally realize the construction of a safe mine, an unmanned mine, an efficient mine and a clean mine. At present, China has more than 4,000 coal mines, mining geological conditions are poor, landslides, flooding, gas explosions and other accidents prone to large safety risks, low mining efficiency, high labor costs, pain points have long restricted the development of the coal industry. Therefore, how to improve the informatization and intelligent operation level of coal enterprises and fully build a safe, green, efficient and intelligent mine has become a highly concerned issue in the whole industry. The mission of the smart mine is derived from this. The development of smart phones comes from the traditional mobile phone industry, and the development of smart mines comes from the traditional mining industry. From wired phones to multi-functional smart phones, from 2G to 5G, smart phones have completely become an extension of people in contemporary society. Smart mine is also the development and application of various new technologies on the basis of existing mines, and the continuous development and improvement of new concepts to achieve mine intelligence. At present, the development prospects of smart mines are broad, and the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Intelligent Development of Coal mines" issued by the eight Ministries and commissions of the State Council in March 2020 proposed that by 2035, all types of coal mines will basically achieve intelligence, build a multi-industry chain and multi-system integrated coal mine intelligent system, and build an intelligent coal mine intelligent system with intelligent perception, intelligent decision-making and automatic execution. At present, intelligent coal mining is still in the demonstration stage, suitable for better working conditions, with the improvement of the technical level, the next 10-20 years or will be widely used.

Although the smart mine is a new concept, but its development is based on the achievements of mine automation, information, digitization, the development process of China's smart mine can be roughly divided into the following stages: (1) mechanization stage. China from the introduction of fully mechanized mining equipment in the 1970s, the implementation of comprehensive mechanized mining in the 1980s, to the development of large-scale coal mine machinery and equipment, to achieve the localization of coal machinery and equipment, coal machinery and equipment manufacturing in the world's leading ranks. Coal machine mainly includes boring machine, shearer, scraper transport, hydraulic support and so on. By 2018, the mechanization level of coal mining in China had reached 78.5 percent, a significant increase from 32.3 percent in 1978. The total installed power of shearer reaches nearly 3000kW, the cutting power reaches 1150kW, the cutting height breaks through 8.8m, and the production capacity reaches 4500t/h, reaching the world's leading level. (2) Integrated automation stage. In the early 21st century, the integrated platform and the 3DGIS digital platform were applied, and high-speed network channels were formed, realizing primary data processing, primary system linkage, and comprehensive information release. With the continuous update of electrical automation technology, in the control of mechanical equipment, electro-hydraulic control technology continues to develop. Coal mining automation technology has been widely used in coal mining enterprises, which can not only improve the production efficiency of coal enterprises, but also reduce labor costs.

(3) Mine intelligent stage. BIM technology, big data technology, 5G, and cloud computing technology have been applied to achieve local closed-loop operation, multi-system linkage, professional decision-making, closed-loop operation system, remote diagnosis and maintenance, intelligent decision analysis, and system prediction and prediction. It is gradually developing from the intelligence of a single system to the intelligence of a multi-system, building an intelligent coal mine system with intelligent perception, intelligent decision-making and automatic execution, and initially forming a smart mine with spatial digitization, information integration, equipment interconnection, virtual-real integration and control network.

It can be seen that the development of smart mines from mechanization to automation, and then to the intelligence of the industry 4.0 era, more and more unmanned. The development of mining information construction in China today, although all kinds of subsystems have basically realized the network integration, but the massive data obtained by each system can not be effectively shared and integrated analysis, this mode of each system fighting for itself, makes "information island" in the mining industry is extremely prominent. In order to solve this problem, a large number of intelligent devices (chips, digital sensors, broadband communication capabilities) are needed to help the mine achieve a "qualitative breakthrough", and the new information infrastructure is particularly important.

In September 2021, jointly built by China Radio and Television, China Mobile and China Coal Shaanxi Yulin Energy and Chemical Industry, China Coal Science and Technology Intelligent Mining Co., LTD., China Coal Information Technology, ZTE, Shaanxi Daze Coal Mine project for the first time in China to achieve 5G 700MHz band coal field application to help achieve full coverage of 5G signals on the mine surface and underground. It lays the foundation for multi-scenario applications such as 4K video surveillance, 5GVoNR video call, underground automatic driving, and remote control of working face in 5G intelligent mine scenarios. The combination of 5G private network technology and multi-basic capabilities such as big data, AI image recognition and large video provided by ZTE played a particularly key role in this project. As the world's leading integrated communication solution provider and China's largest listed communication equipment company, ZTE is now not only a communications equipment manufacturer, but also a complete solution and service provider of digital transformation solutions. Zte has a combination of 5G private network technology and big data, AI image recognition, large video and other advantages, and there are not many enterprises in the world that have these advantages at the same time, and an excellent smart mining platform cannot be separated from the empowerment of these core technologies.

Since 2020, after two years of industry exploration of 5G enabled mining, ZTE believes that the value of the combination of ICT and mining applications has been verified with certainty, and established the mining Business Department at the end of December 2021 to specialize in the mining industry segment. The Mining Business Department, headed by Junshi Xie, executive vice president and Chief Operating Officer of ZTE, gathers the whole chain of personnel including industry experts, product research and development, marketing, engineering delivery, commercial procurement, etc., taking mining industry customers as the boundary, effectively connects the company's operating factors, breaks the original organizational framework, and quickly gathers resources. Open the marketing forward, pull back the program/product, is committed to creating a minimalist, high-speed and safe mining network, and build a smart mine with the interconnection of everything.

Up to now, ZTE has cooperated with more than 20 private networks and business partners. For example, during the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2022 conference recently, ZTE and Inner Mongolia Dazhong Mining Co., LTD. (referred to as "Dazhong Mining") signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement at the conference. And has implemented more than 70 projects in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Henan, Anhui, Xinjiang, etc., and completed the boring machine remote control, intelligent fully mechanized mining, intelligent inspection, unmanned mining card, video splicing and other business applications, including mine and open pit mine remote control, intelligent fully mechanized mining, intelligent inspection, unmanned mining card, video splicing and other business applications. While carrying out cooperation in product research and development, ecological collaboration, and project solutions, 5G will be used to enable the needs of safe production, and gradually realize intelligent upgrades such as fewer and unmanned production, automatic transportation, automatic loading and unloading, automatic driving, and robot inspection. Jointly promote the application and practice of Internet, big data, artificial intelligence, 5G edge computing and other innovative technologies in the mining industry. This also basically includes the ten intelligent systems needed for smart mines: 5G+ intelligent coal mining system, 5G+ intelligent driving system, intelligent dispatching centralized control system, intelligent equipment early warning and remote consultation system, Internet of Things + intelligent storage system, intelligent traffic safety control system of auxiliary inclined shaft, 5G+ intelligent conveyor belt transportation system, unattended integrated coal sales control system, intelligent ventilation system, remote intelligent office system.

As a key part of the intelligent construction of Daze Coal Mine, the 5G 700MHz&2.6GHz Fusion communication system project of Daze Coal Mine mentioned above builds a three-level elastic computing power network system based on the new cloud network architecture to help the coal mine realize the network management and control of "5G, WiFi, IoT and industrial Ethernet ring network" in the well/underground. At the same time, relying on key technologies such as 5G super uplink, network slicer technology, and MOCN, the 5G customized network private network mode lays the foundation for multi-scenario applications such as 4K video surveillance, 5GVoNR video call, underground automatic driving, and remote control of the working face in 5G smart mine scenarios, and continues to help the digital transformation and upgrading of all elements of Daishue coal mine production. Strive to build a model of science and technology, innovation, integration, and green development, making ZTE a leader in the construction of 5G+ smart mines in the national coal industry.

For the future long-term development of the mining business department, Xie Junshi said: "As a new force of smart mining, ZTE will take root in the mining technology, with advanced ICT technology to promote the digital transformation of coal mines, facing the future, we are willing to work with industry ecological partners for the high-quality development of energy mining enterprises, to build a new digital ecology of the coal industry to provide strong support." In the increasingly large-scale 5G construction, ZTE will continue to deepen the development of key capabilities for digital transformation of the industry, create a comprehensive technology ecology and application ecology, lead the industrial digital transformation, and serve the construction of high-quality digital economy. In the future, ZTE will continue to be open, integrated and win-win attitude, join hands with a wider range of industry partners, explore the continuous extension of smart mines, green mines to beautiful mines, and explore a sustainable development, effective and replicable road suitable for mines.