Coolon deploys award-winning Brilliant Connected Lights on an underground NORCAT facility for the first time

Coolon Brilliant Connected Lights have made an impact in the mining industry both in Australia and internationally since their initial release in 2021. Providing a streamlined and friction-free solution to enabling digitization on mining and industrial sites, these fittings do not only represent disruptive innovation but offer a digital backbone for thousands of emerging ground-breaking IoT services and technologies, enabling customers to pick and choose whatever provider suits their particular needs the most.

Having completed numerous successful installations on mine sites all over Australia and internationally, Coolon has made a pioneering move to test the Brilliant Connected Lights in the harsh environment of the NORCAT underground facility. The BCL range consists of 5 fittings each optimized for various applications and environments - and smart LED Batten XINIX was selected for the first underground testing. 

Once installed and powered on, each light automatically connects with one another to form a robust wireless mesh network that serves as a digital backbone for other IoT services to operate on. Andrew Orkin, the Product Development Manager and the project manager for the NORCAT deployment, highlighted the challenges of digitization usually posed by the underground environment: 

“It’s an incredibly complex and hazardous environment, and the radio signal doesn’t propagate very well at all. However, our lights are spread out evenly throughout the site, and each fitting only has to service the immediate area around itself and pass the signal onto its neighbour for retransmission, creating a robust wireless mesh network that bypasses the connectivity challenges posed by the underground environment." 

The key functionality of BCL is that the localized mesh network relies on nothing more than the lights themselves, propagating the wireless connection from one fitting to the other and enabling digitization without the need for any further installations. This enables the site to easily deploy any number of third-party IoT services that redefine the efficiency, productivity and safety of the underground operations. 

“With this network, we're able to track people, we're able to track assets, we're able to deploy thousands and thousands of sensors all over the site. The main idea behind Brilliant Connected Lights is that we create an App-Store-like hub for IoT services. Any technology that anyone else is making, as long as it's compatible with our lights, we can deploy it very quickly all over the site!”

Eddie Kadic, the Operations Manager for Coolon, commented that the deployment has exceeded all expectations during the installation process.  

“We didn't know 100% what to expect because this is a new environment for us. However, we have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly we've managed to deploy the network, and how reliable the network has been in an environment that is notorious for being challenging for any kind of connectivity or digital communications.“ 

XINIX fittings are also equipped with a backup battery, enabling every single light to act as an emergency escae luminaire in case of a power outage. Additionally, the battery enables the network to remain functional for an additional 24 hours after the loss of connection.  

Watch the video below to witness the first-ever deployment of XINIX fittings in the NORCAT underground facility and learn more about the endless benefits of the Brilliant Connected Lights.