COLLISION AVOIDANCE
The University of Pretoria ' s VDG has now conducted about 35 tests with its test vehicles ( Land Rovers ) and tests on actual trackless mobile mining ( TMM ) equipment on mining sites : six with ADTs as pictured plus one with an LHD and one with a rigid haul truck
The leap to Level 9
Development of collision avoidance technology is now very focused on so-called Level 9 technology where the vehicle can actually act itself to take evasive action where needed . While already embedded in the autonomous haulage industry , it is coming also in standard operations , led by South African legislation but likely coming to Australia and elsewhere soon . Paul Moore spoke to the major stakeholders
Collision avoidance as a topic in the mining
industry is much more than just applying proximity detection sensors – the complication comes from there needing to be some kind of standardisation or protocol across the industry taking into account the innumerable potential types of interactions that can occur on a minesite , both surface and underground , between vehicles and between vehicles and workers ; and from a technology standpoint trying to ensure the approach is consistent across technology suppliers , particularly when it comes to the point of what action is taken when a collision risk is detected . And on top of all this is being able to offer a system where the machine can take its own action to avoid a collision .
There are several lines of progress relating to collision avoidance technology – regulatory evolution from governments ( still being led by South Africa ), testing and research by institutions and groups such as Mining3 in Australia and the University of Pretoria ’ s Vehicle Dynamics Group , and industry led work on establishing definitions , guidelines and protocols such as by the ICMM , ACARP , ISO and EMESRT .
South Africa has taken the lead in regulatory matters through Chapter 8 of its new Mine Health and Safety Act which laid out requirements for the whole mining industry in RSA to effectively have Level 9 compliant systems in place for trackless mobile machinery ( TMM ) – for which a deadline was initially set for June 2020 , then extended to December 2020 . However , this extended deadline has again been postponed with no new date announced as yet . However , it is still likely to be set for 2021 , so is still far ahead of the ICMM stated target of 2025 , which has meant that the industry in some cases has taken the view of focusing resources on South Africa for now and not necessarily applying that worldwide until it is mandated .
Testing to meet SA Chapter 8 has been focussed on the University of Pretoria ’ s Vehicle Dynamics Group at the Armscor test site , though tests have also now also moved on to actual minesites and a few mines are now actually running Level 9 systems . The VDG has also been working with Mining3 in Australia in an effort to develop some kind of unified South Africa and Australia collision avoidance ( or what it calls Collision Management System or CMS ) technical strategy , For example , the two groups worked together on an online sensor technology capability tool providing users with unbiased information on Proximity Detection System sensors to assist in their decision making process .
Transport and mobile equipment accidents accounted for 30 % of fatalities at ICMM operated mines in 2018 , the highest cause of fatalities at ICMM member operations . ICMM ’ s collaborative Innovation for Cleaner , Safer Vehicles ( ICSV ) programme aims to promote collision avoidance technology capable of eliminating fatalities from vehicle interactions , available to mining companies by 2025 . To help companies start a conversation , a Maturity Framework was collaboratively developed by ICMM members , OEMs and other technology providers involved . The ICSV initiative is led by a CEO Advisory Group comprising leadership from BHP , Anglo American , Gold Fields , Caterpillar , Komatsu and Sandvik . Not much more has been said on the collision avoidance side of things to date , apart from
the organisation saying in 2021 “ ICMM ’ s company members will focus on integrating the initiative ’ s goals into their corporate planning processes , allocating internal resources and effectively leveraging external resources such as synergies with other industry initiatives and collaboration between member companies .”
EMESRT ’ s Vehicle Interaction group
The Earth Moving Equipment Safety Round Table ( EMESRT ) is a well-known global initiative involving most of the major mining companies which engage with key mining industry OEMs to advance the design of the equipment to improve safe operability and maintainability and also issuing guidelines for the industry . Since 2013 , EMESRT has led and participated in industry-level initiatives with the common goal of improving the reliability of what it calls Vehicle Interaction ( VI ) controls in mining .
The goals of the EMESRT Vehicle Interaction group are to clearly define the problem and risks associated with vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to person interactions ; understand the scenarios where the risks are high ; and build a set of performance criteria by which to evaluate proximity detection and collision avoidance technologies .
Central to this has been EMESRT taking the central role in developing a common interface protocol to allow PDS controls in mixed equipment fleets . This has led to the development of the international standard ISO21815 Collision Awareness and Avoidance – that formally defines the interface protocol . EMESRT ’ s work has also included publishing definitions of VI levels of incident preventative controls ( see box ) of which there are nine , Level 9 being what everyone is currently interested in as it includes the vehicle actually taking action .
EMESRT told IM that it was advised in November 2020 through the ISO21815 committee meeting minutes that the Part 2 ( Interface Protocol ) is currently being prepared for publication , which will be a big step forward adding to the general guidelines that have already been published . EMESRT for its part says it is continuing to work collaboratively with industry stakeholders on guidance material including development of an integrated package of information and support material including a draft Vehicle Interaction Self- Review tool for baselining current mining user site performance before considering the introduction of new technology and other innovations .
EMESRT work has also included the development of interoperability standards between third-party PDS suppliers and equipment supplied by OEMs – a
54 International Mining | JANUARY 2021