COLLISION AWARENESS & AVOIDANCE
enabled models.
“Our data logging
capacity is able to
capture all information
relating to the
interactions between the
pedestrians and the
vehicles, and also
between vehicles
themselves,” he says.
“This provides the mine
with a ‘road map’ to track
how any incident occurs,
making it easier to report
The Booyco Electronics proximity detection
system incorporates the latest technology to
ensure compliance
Booyco Electronics’ PDS can facilitate such
collision avoidance, with automatic slow-down
and even safe-stop of mining machines. The
system uses VLF antennae on a vehicle to create
fields within a danger zone around the vehicle.
The size of each field can be determined by the
customer, to suit their specific operating
environment and addressing identified risk.
An RFID tag installed on the pedestrian’s cap
lamp alerts them – through a light and sound
alarm – when they enter this zone. The light
changes colour from green to orange and then
red, the closer the pedestrian is to the vehicle.
The vehicle itself also receives a warning from
the PDS, with the operator being alerted that a
pedestrian is in the proximity. If equipped and
configured appropriately, the vehicle can also be
automatically slowed down at a certain distance
from the pedestrian, and similarly brought to a
safe stop.
One of the most significant advantages of the
Booyco Electronics PDS is that it can effectively
detect as many as seven TMMs and 20
pedestrians within one field, in the underground
environment.
“Our technology prioritises the safety of the
pedestrian in mines, whether underground or
and to improve practices.”
The Booyco Electronics Asset Management
System (BEAMS) gives mines the ability to
extract useful data on risk areas. This can feed
into focused training of staff for more effective
safety behaviour.
With 13 years of experience in PDS, Booyco
Electronics has supplied in excess of 5,000 sets
of mining vehicle equipment around southern
Africa, as well as 50,000 pedestrian sets of
equipment.
Schauenburg: innovation that saves
Schauenburg Systems, part of the Schauenburg
international group of companies, is a South-
African OEM of MIMACS (Mine-wide Integrated
Monitoring and Control System) that addresses
multiple safety concerns within the underground
and surface mining discipline. The company told
IM: “We are a solution orientated organisation
and have been a stakeholder of ‘supplying and
implementing solutions’ with many large mining
houses since 1972. Where solutions are not
available and an applicable business case exists,
we usually apply our experience and current
solutions available to tailor make a fit for
opencast,” says Janse van Rensburg. “Our
mission is to save lives, and to ensure that every
worker returns home safely every day.”
The company’s market leading systems are
intrinsically safe, working on a clean 12 Volt
power supply that will not ignite methane gas or
coal dust. Customers value the complete turnkey
solution that Booyco Electronics can provide,
says Janse van Rensburg.
“Our combined technology includes a very low
frequency (VLF) signal that penetrates rock walls
underground,” he says. “This ensures that the
pedestrian will still be warned of an approaching
vehicle even if it is out of sight around a corner.”
The PDS can be applied to older ‘non-
intelligent’ machines on a mine as well as the
newer, controller area network (CAN) bus
International Mining | JANUARY 2020
Overview of Schauenburg SCAS for Underground
purpose solution.”
Ettiene Pretorius, ESS Business Unit Manager
at the company states: “Manufactured,
distributed and supported by Schauenburg
Systems in South Africa, we have supplied over
3,000 vehicle systems and over 40,000
pedestrian tags already. The SCAS Collision
Avoidance System is modular in design and
engineered to be a building block of MIMACS – a
smart software system assisting the mine with
its digitisation process where the first edition
systems were launched as early as 2005.
Designed for surface and underground trackless
and track-bound machinery, this system can be
configured to accommodate different
functionalities to enhance safety.”
Providing early perimeter warning notification
can give vehicle operators and pedestrians a
head start in deciding how to manoeuvre during
or before the critical decision making period. The
SCAS Collision Avoidance System uses dual band
RF Technology including GPS and Artificial
Intelligence object detection technology for
surface and underground to warn a vehicle
operator that a vehicle, pedestrian and/or a fixed
hazard are detected in configurable warning
zones. The system also indicates the orientation
of the potential hazard around a vehicle. The
system is designed and tested to comply to the
latest ISO21815 draft protocol in order to provide
the necessary PDS interface signals to safely
slowdown or stop a vehicle during an identified
risk situation.
Other rolled out features include real time
location monitoring, page message
communication system, on-board gas detection
& interlocking, an asset management & control
system and interfacing with Schauenburg’s
Intellisens handheld multi-gas detection system.
There are already Schauenburg Collision