Cohda Wireless, an Australian technology transport system company, will deploy its V2X-Locate vehicle positioning solution to the Rio Tinto-run Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia to increase productivity and push for new industry standards.

The company claimed that the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology connects vehicles and roadside infrastructure to create a cooperative and intelligent cooperative transport environment,

The system, it continued, will provide "unheralded vehicle and personnel location accuracy." Cohda Wireless initially developed the technology to solve the challenges of vehicle positioning in cities where large buildings, underground car parks and tunnels interfere with GNSS signals.

At Oyu Tolgoi, the technology will connect over 200 mining vehicles of all types via specially adapted On-Board units. Approximately 2,000 personnel will use V2X-Locate compatible cap lamps so that the collective system can use Time-of-Flight analysis of wireless signals to resolve spatial locations.

The company fits mining vehicles with a human-machine interface that will notify operators of potential collisions by enabling "superior awareness and reaction", the company said.

Using dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) signals, Cohda's enhanced signal processing and positioning algorithms provide highly accurate vehicle position irrespective of GNSS availability, which makes it suited to mining environments.

Russel Kennet, manager, Underground Technology, Oyu Tolgoi, said the deployment marks the first time the mining industry has used this technology.

"Cohda's V2X-Locate allows all equipped mobile fleet, fixed plant and personnel to be reliably tracked in real-time to sub-metre accuracy in a GNSS-denied environment," Kennet said.

He explained that this would prevent accidents, assist in emergency evacuations, and "enable traffic management and schedule optimisation".

Kennet also said that the deployment "potentially opens the door" for mine-wide peer-to-peer V2X networks that OEMs and vendors can integrate into their products and improve interoperability in all settings.

Cohda Wireless chief executive officer Dr. Paul Gray predicted that adopting connected, intelligent transport solutions in the mining sector would "greatly reduce the risk" of accidents leading to injury or death and improve productivity.

Oyu Tolgoi is jointly owned by the government of Mongolia, which has a 34%, and Turquoise Hill Resources, which owns 66%. Rio Tinto owns 50.8% of Turquoise Hill Resources and manages the operation on behalf of the owners. In 2020 it produced 182K ounces of gold and 876K of ounces of silver.