Exploring All Paths to Mine-Wide Communication: LATYS FOCUS vs. Other Industry Options

Underground mining environments pose serious challenges for wireless communication: thick rock walls, narrow tunnels, heavy machinery, and continually changing layouts all obstruct and weaken signals. Yet reliable connectivity is vital for safety, automation, and efficiency, enabling real-time data, voice, and video across the mine. Here we examine the leading underground connectivity technologies and the specific challenges they face, whether infrastructure complexity, high latency, fragile hardware, or limited coverage, which together leave a gap between what current solutions deliver and what modern operations demand. In closing, we introduce our new approach (LATYS FOCUS) that addresses these gaps.

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Signal Repeaters and Extenders

Signal repeaters and Wi-Fi extenders are often the first tools deployed to push connectivity deeper into a mine. They amplify and rebroadcast an existing signal, extending coverage into nearby dead zones. These devices are inexpensive, quick to set up, and require no major infrastructure work. However, they do not create a new network, they simply stretch the reach of the existing one. Wi-Fi extenders can halve effective bandwidth because they must receive and retransmit on the same channel, often delivering less than 50 % of the original speed while increasing latency. They can exacerbate congestion, fail to provide seamless roaming, and introduce security or compatibility issues. Placement is also tricky; if an extender is positioned where the signal is already weak, performance can actually worsen. These limitations may lead many operations to consider “Wireless Mesh Networks”, which can expand coverage without relying entirely on the strength of a single upstream signal.

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Wireless Mesh Networks

Wireless mesh networks deploy multiple radios (nodes) throughout the mine, each relaying data to the next in a multi-hop chain. While this architecture offers flexibility, it faces significant challenges underground. Bandwidth often degrades with every hop, especially in single-radio setups where backhaul and user traffic compete for the same channel. Multi-radio nodes can maintain higher throughput, but they come at a steep cost and require more complex configuration. High-power consumption and interference further limit the feasibility of high-bandwidth deployments. Each hop also adds latency, which can quickly reach unacceptable levels for time-critical tasks like remote-controlled machinery or live video feeds, and overall throughput inevitably drops as the hop count increases. Finally, the mine’s constantly evolving layout—new tunnels added, old ones collapsed—means static designs are unworkable. A mesh network must constantly self-heal and re-route as nodes move or fail, a process that is both technically complex and operationally disruptive. In short, while mesh networks can work in theory, in practice their limitations in bandwidth, latency, and adaptability make them a challenging fit for the demanding conditions of modern underground mining. To deliver consistent, uninterrupted coverage along main drifts, without depending on multi-hop wireless links, many mines turn to “Leaky Feeder Systems”.

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LEAKY FEEDER (RADIATING COAXIAL CABLE) SYSTEMS

Leaky feeder systems use special coaxial cables that act as continuous antennas, “leaking” radio signals along their length. These radiating cables are typically run down main tunnels with line amplifiers every few hundred meters to maintain signal strength. However, if a cable is severed during blasting or cave-ins, communications can fail instantly unless redundant paths exist. The system also depends on continuous power for amplifiers, meaning a single outage can disrupt connectivity over a wide area. Additionally, leaky feeders are generally limited to frequencies below 1 GHz—higher frequencies would require impractically dense amplifier spacing due to signal attenuation. This low-frequency operation also restricts the available bandwidth, making the system suitable for voice and basic telemetry but inadequate for high-speed broadband applications. Installing multiple cables close together can further cause interference or unintended current induction, affecting both signal quality and safety. To increase capacity and link these systems into high-speed backhaul, mines often deploy “Fiber Optic Backbone Networks”.
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Fiber Optic Backbone Networks

Fiber-optic cable forms the backbone of most mine communication systems, delivering high bandwidth and reliability. However, installing and repairing fiber underground is costly and complex, requiring skilled labor, heavy equipment, and careful handling to route cables through rock or trenches. When damaged—by sharp bends, crushing, machinery strikes, or rock falls—repairs often demand expensive excavation or precision splicing. Despite its performance, fiber is physically fragile, with microscopic flaws that worsen under stress. In rugged, constantly changing mine layouts, routing, protecting, and expanding fiber adds significant time and cost. To combine wide-area coverage, mobility, and high capacity without running fiber to every point, some operations opt for Private LTE/5G Cellular Networks.

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Private LTE/5G Cellular Networks

Deploying a private cellular network underground involves installing small base stations (4G LTE or 5G NR radios) and an on-site core network dedicated to the mine. Operating on mine-owned or licensed spectrum, these systems deliver full 4G/5G coverage for phones, rugged devices, and IoT sensors. While fewer cells are needed than Wi-Fi, the upfront investment remains high, covering costly base stations, core components, and integration. Many mines lack in-house telecom expertise for planning, deployment, and spectrum licensing, making external integrators essential. Signal propagation requires precise engineering to overcome tunnel geometry and multipath effects. Added security and network slicing features increase management complexity, while the private 5G market for mining remains immature, creating uncertainty around ecosystem readiness, device availability, and long-term support.

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While each of these technologies offers valuable capabilities for underground operations, they also carry significant drawbacks—high costs, infrastructure complexity, limited flexibility, and unavoidable performance trade-offs. No single solution fully meets the evolving demands of a mine’s changing layout, safety requirements, and real-time communication needs.

This is where the LATYS FOCUS stands apart. By capturing existing Wi-Fi signals and instantly amplifying them by 12 dBi—effectively quadrupling reach—without adding latency and using less than 5 W of power, the LATYS FOCUS delivers immediate impact. Its plug-and-play design requires no wired integration and can be positioned wherever coverage weakens, providing robust, scalable connectivity in minutes. Designed to work alongside existing systems, it enhances coverage where other methods fall short, fills blind spots, and offers a low-maintenance, rapid-deployment option for mine operators who need reliable connectivity now.

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Ready to boost your mine’s connectivity without overhauling your entire network?

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Contact us today to see how LATYS can help you bridge the gap between coverage and performance.

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