FLEET MANAGEMENT
Cutting edge FMS
Paul Moore reviews the latest trends and functionalities
in mine fleet management systems
oday, a fleet management system (FMS) is
fundamental to any mine, as in everything
that happens in the mine, FMS is
somehow involved. FMS has evolved from
collecting operational data to being
fundamental to any autonomous program.
Marcelo Romero, Hexagon Senior Product
Portfolio Manager – Operations, Safety and
Machine Health, states: “Hexagon offers the
most advanced, automated and integrated FMS
system on the market. Hexagon can help any
mine succeed in the digitalisation process,
become more productive and reduce costs.”
A focus has been providing ‘one hardware,
one system’ for operations and maintenance
people. Maintenance staff want to increase
equipment availability. Integrating a machine
health system with FMS helps achieve this goal.
“Hexagon recently launched HxGN MineOperate
Asset Health. Asset Health is user-friendly and
can simultaneously monitor sensor data coming
from dozens of sources: OEM interfaces, digital
inputs, operational data, equipment positions.
This helps to prevent major issues. The system
saves all this data for present and future analysis.”
One of the most important issues at a mine is
the inability to anticipate equipment failures.
Romero told IM: “I often hear from customers
that manufacturers alarms are late, and don’t
give enough time to act for the equipment.
Hexagon’s solution allows you to design your
own rules or virtual alarms. These virtual alarms
live on the equipment, which allows you to do
edge computation and notify the operator to
act. Regardless of whether the equipment
communicates with central computer, operators
are the first to act and prevent major problems.
Alarms can be sent to the control room where
maintenance staff can perform further analysis.”
He adds that the advent of artificial intelligence
makes the future of machine learning being able
to anticipate equipment failures even more
exciting. “And we’re always open to customers
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36 International Mining | MAY 2019
challenging us to solve problems in a different
way.”
Hexagon says it also offers a comprehensive
safety portfolio. “Integration with our FMS helps
prevent numerous potential causes of mine
accidents. Both heavy and light vehicles can be
monitored by Hexagon’s FMS and integration
with our safety solutions is offered at three
levels: board room, control room and
reporting.” The system provides high levels of
analysis to determine the main causes for safety
alarms. Are the safety issues related to specific
locations, bench or ramp designs? Are the
issues related to a natural interaction between
heavy vehicles or light-heavy vehicle
interactions? Do the issues relate to specific
operators or crews? Is it possible to avoid these
unsafe conditions? “Analysis is easier when
your market-leading collision avoidance system
integrates with an FMS.”
Moving on to networks, Hexagon says it
envisioned leading-edge customers needing a
system that could manage more sensor data,
automation and new LTE capabilities. Romero
states: “Our new hardware platform makes life
easier for a customer who has Wi-Fi or LTE. In a
technical session, a customer asked me how
painful is it to move from Wi-Fi to LTE? How
painful is it for your phone to switch from Wi-Fi
to LTE, and vice versa? I answered that you don’t
even notice when your phone switches from one
system to another. The new hardware makes
switching between Wi-Fi and LTE smooth. We
have been working with Wi-Fi and cell
communications for many years, so it is not an
issue in our technology.”
Data combination is another issue. “Many
years ago, FMS was the only technology in the
cabin. In 2019, technology is all over the place
with five or six screens and systems in the
average cabin. That means five to six GPS
antennas, making system maintenance a
nightmare for any customer. Recently, we
Hexagon recently launched HxGN MineOperate
Asset Health which is user-friendly and can
simultaneously monitor sensor data coming
from dozens of sources: OEM interfaces, digital
inputs, operational data and equipment
positions
developed a way to share equipment positions
to other systems in the cabin. It means the
customer needs one GPS antenna outside,
making system maintenance work easier. It
shows customers that we want to work with
others, and customers appreciate this. Our
Office Platform, HxGN MineEnterprise allows
data to be combined from different sources. It
doesn’t matter if the data sources are Hexagon
products or from other companies; we can
present the data in one place.”
For mines, drilling is also a fundamental
process. If mine operators drill without a
machine guidance system, it’s hard to achieve
good fragmentation and reduce explosive costs.
Hexagon offers an HP Drill application, a high-
precision navigation system. It helps mines
achieve better fragmentation and reduced
explosive costs. It can connect to any drilling
software design (and it is one example of
planning and FMS integration) and update any
change in real time, if needed. It reduces the
need for surveyors in the mine, which make
their work safer. The HP Drill application is
advanced enough to help operators achieve
target elevation and optimised guidance to
navigate from hole to hole. Hexagon says HP
Drill usually accounts for a 10% or more increase
in drilling production. Blasting engineers also
receive good information on rock hardness,
allowing them to plan better blasting for better
fragmentation, reducing explosive costs.
In terms of a return on their investment (ROI)
from Hexagon FMS technology the company
says that n two recent installations in the NAFTA
region, customers realised ROI in months from
increased truck and shovel production. This
came from reduction in shovel hangtime, an
increase of tonnage by truck, reduction of
operational and no-operational delays, and
better material control (dumping the material in
the right place). “For truck and shovel on-board
solutions, Hexagon offers edge technologies to
automate how haulage and loading processes
are digitalised. In fact, truck and shovel
solutions don’t need manual inputs for the
haulage and loading processes. The solutions
allow loading operators to see planned
production information on their screens,
ensuring everyone is informed of production
goals shift by shift. Truck operators see the best
path on the screen. If they deviate from the
route, the system alerts operators or
controllers. Operators avoid wasting time
getting lost or dumping material in the wrong
place. Putting material in right place was an ROI