We all know the feeling of frustration and exasperation when mobile phone reception is not available.
In a world where modern business is increasingly dependent on mobile telecommunications, connectivity problems can have detrimental effects on the bottom line.
Because of the remote locations of many operations, mining companies have to invest in expensive satellite phones or build their own telecommunications infrastructure from scratch.
However, a team of researchers from Flinders University in Adelaide has developed software that allows ordinary mobile phones to communicate with each other in the absence of this infrastructure.
The team’s leader, Dr Paul Gardner-Stephen told Australian Mining the software allows the phones to use their inbuilt Wi-Fi system to connect with each other.
“The phones can use a Wi-Fi radio signal to make calls directly to each other, but each handset can also be used as a base station or repeater for other phones in the area,” he said.
“A call can be relayed across several other phones until it gets to the destination.”
Gardner-Stephen said the idea for the software came in the wake of the disastrous earthquake in Haiti earlier this year, which killed an estimated 230,000 people and reaped tremendous on the capital Port-au-Prince.
“The earthquake knocked out the telecommunications infrastructure, so there was nothing to support all the communication that suddenly needed to happen in the area,” he said.
“So we started thinking how you would be able to re-establish and sustain communications in a disaster area like that.
“It was clear that the solution would have to work without any infrastructure whatsoever, so we decided the mobile handsets would have to act as the phone towers themselves to form the network.”
This impromptu network could then be used to help coordinate the search and rescue effort and help survivors contact their families.
The team recently carried out tests in Arkaroola in South Australia, where found they were achieving signal ranges of up to one kilometre with a clear line of sight in favourable conditions.
However, Gardner-Stephen believes the technology could also have commercial applications in the mining industry.
“If you are mining in a remote location with no mobile phone coverage, the workers would be able to call each other without having to go through satellites or expensive communication links,” he said.
“You could also tie the phones into global phone networks, but you would only need a single satellite uplink for a settlement of a couple of hundred people.”
The phone handsets could also be used to relay signals between shafts and tunnels in an underground operation.
According to Gardner-Stephen, this method can be a much more cost-effective way to set up telecommunications in mining settlements no matter how remote.
“The current alternative is satellite phones, which are expensive, do not work indoors and do not have great sound quality,” he said.
“Satellite phones cost between $1000 and $3000 each, so you can make a saving by obtaining normal handsets, which cost around $100 to $300.
“You might also have a satellite uplink that would be shared by 50 to 100 people.
“We have actually been talking with a company that builds accommodation for mining settlements about incorporating our phones and boosters directly into the buildings.
“So once you construct a few buildings onsite, the operation would automatically have its own phone network.”
The technology could also be used in emergency response and search and rescue operations in the event of a mine accident.
“If we think back to the Beaconsfield disaster in 2006, in principle you could have used this to set up relay points to get communications all the way down to the trapped miners,” Gardner-Stephen said.
“If, for example, a truck driver was lost in the desert, you could attach a phone to a low-flying helicopter and do low passes within the maximum range of the vehicle.
“Once you get in range of the driver’s phone or even a phone permanently fitted to the vehicle, your phone would be able to provide a precise location.”
Gardner-Stephen said, while the software will currently only work with Wi-Fi enabled handsets, the team is working towards making it compatible with the radio frequencies used by older phones.
The team is look to create a field communications unit, which would consist of a single, central satellite uplink and then between 10 to 20 mobile phones.