Lilou Coal Mine: China's First Mine with Full-service Integrated Network, Setting Industry Standards

As coal mines transition to intelligent mines, networks face numerous challenges. For example, it is common to use three or more Layer 2 switching networks to carry services such as underground production data, video security, personnel positioning, and security monitoring. This leads to the need for more underground cables, extensive network construction, and an uptick in O&M. In addition, services carried on these Layer 2 networks affect each other, leading to widespread broadcast storms. Once a broadcast storm occurs, it significantly impacts a large number of services. Also, traditional networks lack centralized management and effective troubleshooting methods, relying on workers to physically go underground to resolve issues. This results in lower O&M efficiency and disrupts normal production operations.

In addition, as intelligent mining services are gradually enriched, different services have different network requirements. For example, comprehensive video coverage necessitates high network bandwidth to eliminate blind spots. The electric power system requires low latency to prevent override tripping, while the security supervision system demands high reliability. Unfortunately, existing networks are incapable of supporting the ongoing development of intelligent mining operations.

Lilou Coal Mine is a leading intelligent demonstration mine, recognized as a key project by Shandong Energy Group. In the pursuit of intelligent mines, the construction of networks takes precedence. Lilou Coal Mine used a next-generation production ring network (referred to as the integrated transport network) based on SRv6 and FlexE network slicing technologies to migrate all services from the original Layer 2 networks to the integrated transport network. According to third-party evaluations, the implementation of the integrated transport network has resulted in notable achievements: one network for all services, high security & reliability, and intelligent O&M.

The integrated transport network of Lilou Coal Mine boasts a high bandwidth of 50GE. It connects security monitoring, power control, and other services to the sliced network, enabling all mine services to be carried on one network and meeting intelligent development requirements for the next 5 to 10 years.

Each slice exclusively uses bandwidth resources, ensuring the isolated transmission of services. The integrated transport network employs a redundant ring structure and three-layer routing to implement network redundancy. When a link is disconnected, intelligent routing enables quick network path switching. Tests confirm that the network self-healing time is under 50 ms, guaranteeing network security and reliability and meeting the fundamental network communication standards for intelligent mines.

The integrated transport network is equipped with an intelligent management platform that proactively identifies network issues and monitors service quality, enabling the quick resolution of issues. After adopting the integrated transport network, Lilou Coal Mine optimized its production network architecture. The average video image delay is less than 10 ms, the service troubleshooting time is reduced by about 50%, and the fault impact time is reduced by about 70%.

Security monitoring connects to the integrated transport network, implementing one network for all services. The revised draft of Coal Mine Safety Rules mentions that it is allowed to integrate the security monitoring network and video network into the transport network. The data from the aboveground and underground substations and sensors of the security monitoring system is transmitted independently to ground servers through slicing and then uploaded to the higher-level regulatory authorities for supervision.

The integrated transport network implements low-latency and high-reliability transmission for power supply systems and others. To ensure the normal functioning of the anti-override tripping feature in the power supply system, the network must satisfy the requirements for low latency within 20 ms, minimal jitter, and stable transmission.

To ensure the reliability and security of the integrated transport network, Lilou Coal Mine invited CCTEG Changzhou Research Institute to perform system tests. Finally, the network passed strict function and performance tests. Lilou Coal Mine has become the first mine in China to pass the test of "one network for all services".

After several months of stable operation, the integrated transport network has greatly benefited from the implementation of slice service isolation, loop detection, and blocking functionalities. As a result, large-scale network outages caused by network storms no longer occur, significantly reducing production downtime. By utilizing the intelligent NMS's timely and precise alarm reporting and swift fault demarcation and localization, network service issues are swiftly resolved in a closed loop. This results in reduced network fault durations, improved network maintenance efficiency, and streamlined operations for the IT department.