Connecting Africa is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 3099067.

IoT & Smart Cities

Orange and DeBeers team to mine IoT marine diamonds

Article Image
Mining is a hazardous occupation. Mining at sea, in cramped conditions, multiplies that.

To that end, Orange Business Services, network-native digital services subsidiary of telecoms giant Orange Group, has helped De Beers Marine South Africa build an Internet of things (IoT) platform to make sure crew maintain a safe distance from heavy machinery.

A pilot has run successfully on board the MV Mafuta, currently the world's largest offshore diamond mining vessel, owned and operated by Debmarine Namibia, around 150km off the coast of Namibia. The Orange IoT platform uses geofencing technology, bluetooth low-energy locators and wearable sensors – all of which work with onboard antennas.

Testing times
In the pilot, Orange Business Services imported the Mafuta's AutoCAD files and undertook an onboard site survey to map antenna locations to geofence a predetermined area on the vessel.

Ten crew members were equipped with wrist sensors. If one of the crew breached the geofenced area onboard the vessel, the ship's bridge was alerted immediately.

Marine diamond mining means miners are working in close proximity to heavy machinery. (Source: Orange)
Marine diamond mining means miners are working in close proximity to heavy machinery.
(Source: Orange)

De Beers Group Technology SA, an R&D arm of De Beers Group, is now looking at other potential applications for the technology. One possibility is a breach alert function to link the sensors directly to the mining machinery to create a failsafe cut-off in the event of a breach in the geofence.

"The geofencing pilot has already proved successful in one of the most challenging heavy industrial environments – a floating diamond mine at sea, with prolonged exposure to strong vibration and corrosive saltwater," said Gerhardus Theron, vessel manager of the MV Mafuta.

The next phase of development will focus on interface and data collection capabilities, and include testing a trigger function to deactivate machinery in the event of a breach of the geofence by a crew member.

*Top image is of the MV Mafuta, the world’s largest offshore diamond mining vessel.
(Source: Orange).

Fiona Graham, Editorial Director, Light Reading

Innovation hub

Story

Omdia View: February 2024

Highlights in February 2024 in the Middle East and Africa included 5G launches in Senegal and 5G trials in Egypt as well as Kenya's first 5G MVNO. Airtel also launched a new wholesale connectivity business while MTN and Huawei are planning a joint Innovation Technology Lab in South Africa – that and more in this month's Omdia View.

Story

Key adoption areas for machine learning in Africa

ICT analyst Francis Hook identifies some of the key sectors that could be positively impacted by machine learning, including education, government services, healthcare and climate tech.

More Innovation hub

Latest video

More videos

Partner perspectives

All Partner Perspectives

Sponsored video

More videos

Industry announcements

More Industry announcements

Upcoming events

Africa Tech Festival 2024
November 11-14, 2024
Cape Town, South Africa
More Upcoming events

Africa Tech Perspectives

Story

Uber's Marjorie Saint-Lot on inclusion and sustainability in Africa

Uber's Country Manager for Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, Marjorie Saint-Lot, shares how the ride-hailing company is approaching public-private partnerships, environmentally friendly initiatives and gender inclusion in Africa.

Story

The 100 most influential African leaders in 2023

A new report from Africa Tech Festival and Connecting Africa puts a spotlight on the top 100 African leaders in the telecoms and technology sector in 2023.

Story

Deep dive into East Africa's tech startup ecosystem

New survey reveals a lack of access to investors, reliance on international VCs and global recession trends as the biggest barriers for East African tech startups to access funds.

More Africa Tech perspectives

Guest Perspectives

Story

Omdia View: February 2024

By Omdia Analysts

Highlights in February 2024 in the Middle East and Africa included 5G launches in Senegal and 5G trials in Egypt as well as Kenya's first 5G MVNO. Airtel also launched a new wholesale connectivity business while MTN and Huawei are planning a joint Innovation Technology Lab in South Africa – that and more in this month's Omdia View.

Story

Omdia View: January 2024

By Omdia Analysts

Highlights in January 2024 in the Middle East and Africa included a $200 million fintech deal between MTN and Mastercard as well as 5G network trials by Telecom Egypt – that and more in this month's Omdia View.

More Guest Perspectives

Like us on Facebook

Newsletter Sign Up


Sign Up
Tag id test-002