COLLISION AVOIDANCE
n Fatigue intervention plan is initiated for all operators who experienced a
fatigue event
“Fatigue and distraction events occurred at regular intervals
throughout phase one, however, a comparison of HSE Mining with 10
other mines showed that the average fatigue events per mobile hours
was lower than average. This is a good indication that the education
programs and operational controls implemented to date are proving to be
somewhat effective. Fatigue events were reduced during both phases two
and three once full fatigue intervention protocols were implemented. The
reduction in verified fatigue events from phase one to the end of phase
three was 94%. The trial highlighted not only that DSS is a valuable tool
in detecting and managing fatigue events, but also that implementation
would be just one part of HSE Mining’s overall fatigue and distraction
strategy.”
NEW
RIEGL VZ-2000i
FOR TOPOGRAPHY AND MINING
Voice analysis fatigue monitoring
WOMBATT, previously a participant in the European Space Agency business
incubation network, is commercialising iVOICE, a voice based driver fatigue
prediction and detection system invented by the Centre for Space Medicine
at University College London. The company states: “We have all had the
experience of hearing tiredness in a person’s voice. Somehow, they sound
d ifferent to normal and less alert. Even a single sentence spoken over the
phone can be enough for you to say ‘you sound tired, are you OK?’”
“Now, a combination of voice analysis and machine learning originally
developed to track the health of astronauts on long term space missions
has been shown to have acquired this very human capability.” The voice
analysis system, iVOICE, has been developed at the Centre for Space
Medicine at University College London (UCL) to gauge a person’s level of
tiredness simply by listening to his or her voice for some seconds.
The iVOICE system works by first getting to know the voice characteristics
of each individual driver so that it can identify small changes to their voice
occurring over the working day which indicate increasing fatigue. This is
similar to the way humans detect fatigue in the voice – we notice tiredness
most easily in people well-known to us than with strangers whom we have
just met for the first time. On published tests, iVOICE was able to detect
significant fatigue with an accuracy of 90% once tuned to individual voices.
Being just a software algorithm iVOICE can be installed wherever there is a
capability to make voice recordings onto a computer, either in bespoke
systems installed in vehicles, or via existing telecommunication channels to
a system in the cloud.
For mining haul truck drivers an important feature of the new technology,
apart from its accuracy, is complete unobtrusiveness. There is no need for
specialist equipment such as cameras or wearable sensors, and drivers
would only need to speak as they might anyway as part of their job. iVOICE
will automatically recognise drivers from their voices when they speak in
the cabin, perhaps in response to a simple question such as “How are you
feeling? What is your current activity? Which shovel are you working from?”
From the driver’s response iVOICE may say “John, you sound very tired. You
may not have received sufficient rest to drive this truck tonight. The shift
supervisor will call you over the radio in a few moments to discuss.”
The technology has been tested by fatigue management company
WOMBATT with mining haul truck drivers at a mine in Peru to demonstrate
that the system can work in a haul truck cabin as well as it can aboard a
spaceship. WOMBATT are commercialising the technology in partnership
with University College London - Centre for Space Medicine and Datasat
Communications Ltd.
“With fatigue implicated in up to 65% of all fatalities in the mining
industry, and with rapidly increasing regulatory oversight of this problem,
we expect that within a very short time, all mining trucks will be fitted with
iVOICE low cost, fully unobtrusive fatigue prediction and detection as
standard equipment. Indeed, when fitted to VHF radios and mobile phones,
high-accuracy RIEGL VZ-2000i scan data
Long Range, Very High Speed
3D Laser Scanning System
» up to 1.2 million measurements/sec –
rapid data capture
» range up to 2,500 m, 5 mm accuracy –
ideally suited for topography and mining
» RIEGL Waveform-LiDAR technology –
highly informative and accurate data
» cloud connectivity via LAN, Wi-Fi and LTE 4G/3G –
smart remote scanner control and data upload
» automatic on-board registration during
data acquisition – tremendous time savings
» customizable workflows & special software
packages – highest field efficiency
» rugged design, fast set-up, user-friendly touch screen –
easy to operate even in harsh environments
» fully compatible with the
RIEGL VMZ Hybrid Mobile Mapping System –
for both static and mobile data acquisition
www.riegl.com
RIEGL LMS GmbH, Austria
RIEGL USA Inc.
RIEGL Japan Ltd.
RIEGL China Ltd.
JANUARY 2018 | International Mining 43