Huawei ventures into mining industry

Speaking at Huawei Connect 2022, rotating chairman of Huawei Ken Hu emphasised the company's dedication to working with partners to help industry customers choose the right technology for their needs – and to make the most of it.

"To provide our customers with scenario-based solutions that truly meet their needs, we have to work side-by-side to truly understand the challenges in their industry," Hu said.

According to Hu, just one year after its formation, Huawei's Mine Team has made solid progress. Of particular note is the MineHarmony OS, a joint innovation by Huawei and the China Energy Investment Corporation. The system has been deployed on 3,300 sets of equipment in 13 mines and one coal washery.

The system has been deployed throughout the entire Wulanmulun (also known as Ulan Moran) Mine in Inner Mongolia, where significant progress has been made in connectivity, interface, and data access. The operating system covers a multitude of innovative scenarios, including the smart control of equipment, the automatic patrol of fixed sites, and the online upgrade of equipment – the time for which has been shortened from one day to just four minutes.

On the way to digitalisation and smart mining transformation, the first challenge for any mine is establishing the interconnectivity and interoperability of equipment and addressing the inaccessibility of data. The key to this is to find the most suitable network technologies.

Huawei has taken its 5G capabilities, as well as fully optical connectivity with FTTM and IPv6+, underground into the pits. These technologies, known for their low latency and high reliability, are ideal for multiple scenarios from video backhaul to remote equipment control.

Underground coal mines are fitted with all kinds of devices and equipment running on different protocols, and finding a way to connect them all is a major challenge. For this, the Huawei Mine Team and China Energy teamed up with over 30 partners to develop MineHarmony within just three months – the first IoT operating system in the mining sector.

As a cutting-edge industrial IoT OS, MineHarmony not only provides unified protocols for different equipment but also simplifies operations with unattended inspections. The system covers equipment of all sizes and uses unified protocols to enable data sharing between equipment and interconnectivity between users and devices.

Furthermore, 5G and AI video stitching technologies have enabled remote and precise control of mining machines, which in turn allows people working in offices to remotely control underground operations, thereby improving their working environment and safety.

With 5G transmitting real-time video of the main belts and AI algorithms accurately identifying anomalies, the system turns time-phased manual inspections into 24/7 intelligent monitoring, all while cutting the number of underground inspection personnel by 20 per cent.

With cutting-edge ICT that is deeply interwoven with field practices, the Huawei Mine Team has created an industrial internet platform that runs on unified standards and frameworks, which is dedicated to a clear set of data specifications.

By building a next-generation IoT with cloud platforms as the core, data as a key factor, and security as a safeguard, the Mine Team is focused on forging a new mode of applications that integrate next-generation information technologies into the mining sector to forge new modalities for mine companies, suppliers, and the industrial chain.

The team will work closely with the sector to unleash new value for the mining industry. This will help it to become safer and more efficient while requiring fewer people for undesirable and dangerous assignments.

The digital transformation of industries brings both opportunities and challenges. Huawei looks forward to working with customers and partners in the spirit of openness, innovation, and collaboration. At the same time, Huawei encourages partners to work together to accelerate digitalisation and provide ever-more impetus for socioeconomic growth.

Huawei makes $49.42 billion in revenue in first half Huawei on August 6 announced that it generated CNY320.4 billion ($49.42 billion) in revenue in the first half of 2021, with its net profit margin reaching 9.8 per cent.

Huawei appoints new CEO in Vietnam Huawei on September 14 appointed Wei Zhenhua as the new CEO in the Vietnam market, expecting to create fresh air for the company in the Southeast Asian nation.

Huawei innovates nonstop to build greener world ICT innovation leader Huawei is committed to building green ICT infrastructure, accelerating the development of renewable energy, improving energy savings, and reducing emissions in a wide range of industries, all with the hope of promoting sustainable development within society at large.