Komatsu America has announced its FrontRunner Autonomous Haulage System (AHS) is now qualified to operate on private long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband technology.
The company says the FrontRunner reduces worker exposure to harm as well as operating costs while also increasing productivity and efficiency.
FrontRunner was tested on Nokia's Future X infrastructure, a provider of private LTE communication solutions for the mining industry, for a year at the company’s proving ground in Tuscon, Arizona.
Luiz Steinberg, Komatsu's global officer and president/CEO of modular mining systems, says the project highlights Nokia’s role as a global supplier of mission-critical solutions and services for the mining industry.
“We are firmly on our way to helping the industry move the next billion tons of material with autonomous technology,” Steinberg adds.
Kathrin Buvac, president of Nokia Enterprise, says: “Private LTE is a key element in the Nokia Bell Labs Future X architecture to help industries such as mining create an intelligent, dynamic, high-performance network that increases the safety, productivity and efficiency of their business.”