FLEET AUTOMATION
autonomous system that was discussed
thoroughly in the risk assessments was that when
the truck was in manual mode, the autonomous
system components had no effect on the original
equipment manufacturer (OEM) design. Similarly,
the system was designed so that when in
autonomous mode any manual input to the OEM
brake or steering system would cause the
autonomous system to release control of the
vehicle. Once the autonomous kit was installed on
the first haul truck testing and tuning of the
components began. From the initial risk
assessments, it was determined that a test track
isolated from other operations would be required.
The test track was constructed to allow the
simulation of a mining environment including
shovel load areas with cable trees, dump edges,
stack dumps, roads, ramps, and a large open
area to allow for various control tuning
operations.”
An NGM supervisor was used as the testing
coordinator, this supervisor was responsible for
controlling access to the test track. While testing
was taking place, a roadblock was used at the
entrance to the track. The personnel maintaining
the roadblock only allowed vehicles past that had
made positive communication with the supervisor
at the test track after the supervisor had ensured
the autonomous vehicle was locked out.
At the start of each day of testing at the test
track, ASI, Sedna, and NGM employees met and
completed a daily test plan and team risk
assessment. The team risk assessment was the
controlling document for the tests to take place
that day. The testing supervisor was responsible
for ensuring that all personnel that entered the
test track were aware of the tests and potential
hazards that would be taking place. At the end of
each day ASI would report the test results to the
project team.
“The main risk mitigation during testing was
the use of a ‘safety rider.’ The safety rider sat in
the operator’s seat of the truck while an ASI
engineer sat in the passenger seat. If at any time
the truck began to do any unsafe action, the safety
rider would override the autonomous system and
bring the truck to a safe stop. Specialised training
took place for Safety Riders so that they could see
how the equipment would respond. To evaluate
the risk associated with the design of the ASI
system hardware and software a thorough review
of the system was performed using the system
theoretical process analysis (STPA) process.” The
STPA process was extensive and resulted in
several changes to the system design and new
trainings to be developed.
“The switch to automated haulage required
many new standard operating procedures (SOP) to
be developed to ensure worker safety and to
realise efficiency gains. There were also many
existing procedures that required modification for
use in an autonomous setting. Procedures
needing to be written and those needing revision
were identified during the risk assessment
process. A small group of NGM project team
members, ASI, and Sedna representatives
developed a detailed flow diagram for each
procedure. At this point the employees selected as
control room operators, maintenance technicians,
and shift supervisors were given the flow
diagrams and given the task of creating written
procedures for each of the flow diagrams. NGM,
ASI, and Sedna employees involved in creating the
flow diagrams were available to the operators
throughout the process of creating the written
procedures to answer any questions or concerns
that the operators may have had. In all 21 new
procedures were developed and five existing
procedures were highly modified.”
A key component of operator training was the
use of simulators to familiarise the operators with
the use of the Mobius control software. A
preliminary map of the mining area was created
and uploaded into Mobius, operators were then
rotated between monitoring trucks, managing
maps, and running the simulated shovel interface.
The simulator training was crucial in the operators
learning how path planning occurred, how close to
map edges and obstacles the trucks would get,
and best practices for the placement of cable
trees. The simulator training also allowed planning
and user interface issues to identified early in the
project. IM
ABSOLUTE MATERIAL FLOW CONTROL
CHUTE SYSTEMS & SOLUTIONS
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Tel: +27 (0) 11 827-9372
email: info@webachutes.com
www.webachutes.com
APRIL 2020 | International Mining 67