COLLISION AVOIDANCE
the extent of its CAS market role . They are installed on over 30 different OEM ’ s mobile equipment on over 100 different machine types . Clients include Glencore , Anglo American , Impala Platinum , Gold Fields , Assmang , Samancor , Sibanye-Stillwater , and Sasol Mining to name but a few . Beyond South Africa , interest levels are also increasing , with recent activities in Mongolia , Kazakhstan , Australia , India , Canada , and the US – and not just underground , also relating to surface equipment . Some of the major mining houses are also considering standardising with Nerospec SK as the VIC solution across all operations . And with a potential mandate to install Level 9 CAS by end-2023 across South Africa , things look set to get a lot busier .
The VIC-specialised teams are headquartered out of two bases one in Johannesburg , South Africa and the other Velbert , Germany . Velbert is also the home of parent Schmidt Kranz Group , which has worldwide offices and includes other mining related companies , so as Nerospec grows into new mining hubs , it will be able to leverage these other regional offices and enhance them with its own specialist staff . It also uses reseller partners as well . From a hardware and software point of view , Nerospec is fully vertically integrated – it designs its own electronics with more than 40 engineers and actually manufactures the systems in South Africa , including the neroHUBs controllers . Plus it creates all of its own software .
Discussions with OEMs are also advancing – including a case where an equipment supplier wants Nerospec to help provide an interface as a standard option for their new machines but also retrofittable on their sizeable fleet of older machines that are running . Effectively it provides them a “ CAS-ready ” Nerospec interface . Of course , in reality on a project by project basis there will still need to be some customisation and testing during implementation – and as an agnostic VIC , Nerospec will also take care of that .
Becker ’ s smart proximity solution
Becker Mining ’ s latest and most advanced underground CAS offering is its PDS4.0 which is described as a smart Proximity Detection System . It forms part of the Becker Connected Mine ( BCoM ) offering as part of the suite of communication solutions that come under SMARTCOM . Other key elements of BCoM include MINCOS ( automation ); ENDIS ( energy distribution ); MINETRANS ( haulage ); and MINESUPPORT ( infrastructure ). The idea is that the mine is at the same time digital , connected and totally integrated , based on real time identification and monitoring that can be based on LTE , WiFi or leaky feeder . Smartflow is the complete infrastructure and information management system from Becker for mine monitoring , which is able to display the entire infrastructure , process flows , current state of technical devices and machines , and mobile components on a 3D mine building model . Mobile machines and people are displayed via tagging and tracking ; with monitoring of individual and composite processes based on process flow diagrams . It includes a graphical presentation of current and past data progressions using trend graphs and diagrams .
Looking in more detail at PDS4.0 , the system facilitates bi-directional notification and alert messaging against potential collision for both V2P and V2V . It warns the operator and interacts with the vehicle as well as warning the pedestrian in that case . It includes a detection alert ( typically 50 m ) then approaching alert with the vehicle automatically slowed and collision alert where the vehicle is automatically stopped . The zones are configurable by software . All vehicles and workers are equipped with a tag . Range is up to 500 m with an accuracy of ± 1 m and 90 % reliability . It relies on UHF and RF-ToF . UHF is used for comms between peers while RF- ToF is used for precise distance measurements .
Jonas Maximilian Becker , CEO , Becker Mining Europe : “ While a lot of this is common to different CAS providers today , there are several standout features of our system . The different stakeholders can actually communicate with each other by confirming or updating their statuses or acknowledging the other . Another unique aspect is whitelisting of detected tags to declare a safe state .” The whitelisting was developed by Becker to manage certain collision avoidance scenarios as outlined by EMESRT . Especially looking at normal head on traffic , following traffic , plus interaction of machines in confined spaces : “ The driver can also request a whitelisting from a miner outside the vehicle who will be prompted via their tag – they can then acknowledge they are safe by pressing the button on their tag twice within a defined timeframe . This helps to avoid the situation with some CAS today where workers have to step back 30 or 40 m away from moving vehicles to avoid any slow down or stop being initiated . Another scenario is whitelisting of a vehicle where you have quite a narrow tunnel where two vehicles have to pass each other , without the system making both stop . It also allows a driver of a personnel carrier to whitelist a group of tag IDs for passengers he is carrying .”
The miner also has an emergency button on their tag to communicate an emergency to other miners and vehicles around them and can even
PDS4.0 has unique whitelisting capabilities to help minimise disruption in certain L9 scenarios
remotely stop a vehicle themselves if they feel unsafe . This could be if miners find themselves in a dangerous situation while being declared as safe such as accidently being trapped behind a vehicle . However , being accidentally declared as whitelisted is a very unlikely scenario as the vehicle ’ s driver and the person in question need to take an action .
To start a vehicle the driver must select his or her ID and approve with a predefined numerical pin . All acknowledge events are logged in the system for post-accident investigation . The whitelist can be accessed and configured via the OMI ( Operator Machine Interface ) in the operator ’ s cabin .
All of the information is stored for up to 30 days on the PDS4.0 control units and is communicated to the central mine database when miners and vehicles pass a WiFi access point or LTE signal . Becker ’ s Smartflow can then visualise the data and create statistics and reports from it .
On the hardware Philip Henry , the responsible Lead Engineer at Becker Mining Europe , adds : “ The system is actually pretty compact without too many accessories that need to be connected . There is no intelligence inside the sensors – there are just basic UHF antennas with all the intelligence inside the PDS4.0 Control Unit . This makes it much easier and cost-effective to replace antennas if they are damaged during operations . In terms of the vehicle interface the system is compatible with ISO 21815 but it can be achieved via other means as well including CAN BUS .”
So where is the system commercially to date ? Becker says it has completed the system development for the industrial version of PDS4.0
44 International Mining | JANUARY 2023