COLLISION AVOIDANCE
intervention – not buzzers and alarms , but specific voice based commands . Beyond that Gen 3 is Level 9 capable and it has been designed to work at that level , but this is seen as just a small extension of the same rules and intelligence . You don ’ t need to add more sensors , radar , LiDAR or whatever . All it needs is the vehicle intervention control to allow the Level 9 slow down and / or stop in certain scenarios , whether that VIC be from the OEM or from a third party like RCT , Nerospec , linked to Wabtec ’ s system via CAN bus cable .
Is interoperability and the VIC still an issue in the industry ? “ For any Level 8 CAS deployment , as there is no direct vehicle intervention then of course there is no issue . For Level 9 , things get more complicated and here the age of machine can make a big difference . But that is where the third party specialists come in .” Plus the OEMs themselves today realise they have to make their equipment more interoperable , primarily working with the ISO 21815-2:2021 standard .
It is of course true that all the main CAS offerings differ slightly in their approach . Wabtec ’ s Gen 3 uses the latest in ultra high precision GPS technology in isolation , whereas Hexagon ’ s CAS 10 for example uses GPS with UWB radio . Tanzer says Gen 3 also has other differentiators . “ We have industry leading GPS accuracy from GNSS , and that is without corrections . Plus ours is the only offering that can reliably and accurately curve beams around beams based on speed , distance and direction of travel . This is a huge benefit in large open pit mines which usually have long gradual curves in their haul roads , often combined with steep bench walls . Passing on bends is also a major cause of nuisance alarms , which our system can avoid by recognition of safe passing . Gen 3 , and in fact Gen 2 had this as well , was the ability to carry out real time self testing via an additional node that is constantly checking the health and accuracy of the entire system in real time . This means the operator and the dispatcher are made aware in real time that there is an issue with the system .”
Tanzer said another plus was Gen 3 ’ s context based voice alerts – that is instead of an alarm , Gen 3 gives specific context based threats to the operator – for example ‘ alert left ’ or ‘ tailgating ’ or ‘ tailgated .’ This was all done together with experts in Human Machine Interfaces .
What of CAS and AHS ? There is a feeling that Tier 1 miners see CAS as a way of allowing closer interaction between AHS fleets and other equipment in the same mine – currently both are strictly segregated . “ There is an expectation , especially among the major mining houses , of operational technologies like CAS and AHS moving towards interoperability . It will happen , it is just a matter of when . And clearly the OEMs take the opinion of the big miners very seriously . I can ’ t say much , just that it is certainly on Wabtec ’ s roadmap and on customers ’ expectations of where they want us to be and the equipment OEMs to be going forward .”
Tanzer added : “ I think where the interaction of CAS and AHS will be made possible is via the vehicle intervention – for example on a Komatsu machine the MIC and on Caterpillar machines the PDIM . At some point this is what will make it possible for the CAS ‘ brain ’ to communicate with the truck that is operating autonomously . We think that the ISO21815 protocol may have a role to play .”
For these mines , it is about further reducing their vehicle interaction exposure as well as enabling autonomous machines and operated machines to work in closer proximity to each other . In big bulk iron ore and coal mines there is a lot of space to play with for example on haul road widths so you can afford to have a large Autonomous Operating Zone . But for smaller mines and steep walled metallic open pits , the machines will have to be closer to each other .
This is and will lead to more overlap between people and autonomy – and it is in this space that AHS and CAS have the potential to be complementary technologies .
Looking again at the equipment OEMs , back in December 2021 , Wabtec announced it had successfully tested its Level 9 CAS on Komatsu 730E and 860E trucks . This cooperation has continued to the present and the two companies are working together on a range of projects .
Torsa combines CAS with other sensors
Malaga , Spain-headquartered Torsa is one of the key collision avoidance companies with a base in Europe and has a strong position in Latin America , with offices in Peru , Chile and Mexico as well as in the UK and in South Africa as well as distributors in other major mining countries like Brazil through distributor TecWise , and Colombia as well as in Australia , where it is collaborating with Position Partners . Its system combines high precision GPS and LIDAR .
Talking about technology development over
Hexagon ' s global MineProtect CAS rollouts
Increasingly , CAS is being deployed in conjunction with fatigue monitoring and other technologies including fleet management system updates as mines look to reduce risk and increase efficiency . Hexagon ’ s Mining division in mid-2023 implemented a fleet management and safety implementation project with Minera San Cristobal SA for the mining company ’ s zinc , lead and silver open pit operations in Bolivia .
As part of this project , Hexagon deployed 65 HxGN MineOperate OP Pro systems , nearly 40 HxGN MineProtect Collision Avoidance Systems ( CAS ) and 30 HxGN MineProtect Operator Alertness Systems ( OAS ) to the San Cristobal operations in Lipez , Potosi Department .
Hexagon ’ s CAS is being deployed on haul trucks to reduce speed-related incidents and on hydraulic shovels and bulldozers to reduce the number of incidents between them . It offers protection to mining vehicle operators , vehicles and assets via a smart antenna and an unobtrusive cabin display unit , according to the company . The system reduces the risk of collisions by alerting vehicle operators to equipment and vehicles up to 500 m away without a direct line of sight .
Looking elsewhere in the world , Hexagon CAS is also part of one of the biggest ever collision avoidance tech rollouts worldwide , with oil sands miner Suncor . HxGN MineProtect CAS is being deployed on over 1,000 pieces of mobile mine equipment across its operating assets . This has been completed at the Syncrude Mildred Lake mine and the Suncor Fort Hills operation plus is nearing completion in the Syncrude Aurora mine . At Suncor ’ s Base Mine deployment should be complete by the end of 2024 .
Moving to Asia , and Hexagon has also completed a major CAS deployment at the Rio Tinto-controlled Oyu Tolgoi copper mine on the fleet of surface mining trucks there - the mine operates 30 Komatsu 930E-4SE 290 t class haulers loaded by two Bucyrus ( Caterpillar ) 495HR rope shovels .
International Mining | JANUARY 2024