COLLISION AWARENESS & AVOIDANCE
zone, up to 5 m, vehicles are forced to stop. In
the warning zone, between 5 m and 12. 5 m,
there is an intense warning for vehicle operators
and miners. In the caution zone, between 12. 5 m
and 100 m, there is a gentle warning for vehicle
operators and miners. In the safe zone – more
than 100 m, no warning is necessary.
Glencore’s groundbreaking
underground L9 setup in SA
Currently, at Glencore Ferroalloys, IM
understands that there are four underground
mining sites running on Level 9. The vehicle
types at these sites are predominantly LHDs,
UVs, drill rigs and LDVs, with just under 100
vehicles per site. A brief overview of the solution
that is utilised at Glencore Ferroalloys, is a
combination of the following technologies:
n PAS1000 Collision Avoidance System – This is
the system that Embedded IQ has developed.
Fundamental to the system is ranging Time of
Flight (TOF) technology, which determines the
distance and angle between targets, by
measuring the time taken by radio frequency
packets sent between them. Using this
technology, the PAS1000 system essentially
enforces the mines rules with respect to
proximity in various areas, including
workshops, refuelling bays, tip and
development areas. The system does this in a
smart way, by including the information about
the miner’s job category and responsibilities.
n CMMS Comprehensive Mine Management
System – This is a management system
provided by the A&R Group that runs in the
lamp room of each mine and is responsible
for ensuring that every miner going
underground goes with functional equipment,
including proximity tag, cap lamp, gas
instrument, etc. The CMMS interfacing to the
mine’s T&A and HR systems and the PAS1000
system.
n Vehicle interface system – This is the system
that is responsible for ensuring the crawl and
stop of the machine. Essentially, it sits
between the PAS1000 system and the
hydraulic systems of the vehicle and actuates
these hydraulic systems in accordance with
the PAS1000 system’s instructions. This was
required since the Glencore’s vehicles are
legacy machines without any intelligence on
them. Glencore opted to use two suppliers
here, Nerospec and L&L Consulting
Services.
Embedded IQ also has PAS1000 and CMMS
deployed at a number of Harmony’s mines,
where, although the predominant focus is
missing personnel location, they are also gearing
up for a Level 9 implementation at one of their
sites using the PAS1000, CMMS and a vehicle
interface system developed by the A&R Group.
International Mining | JANUARY 2020
Commercially, Embedded IQ is predominantly
focussed on R&D and manufacturing. “We sell
the PAS1000 products through the A&R group,
who provides the marketing, installation and
support of the system out in the field. Embedded
IQ has worked closely with the A&R Group for
the last 12 years on a number of products for the
mining industry.”
Newtrax NVD all in one box
Newtrax Technologies says its New Vehicle
Device, or ‘NVD’, is its most “powerful device yet,
providing underground hard-rock mines with
proximity detection, positioning, and
communications capabilities in one box.”
The NVD, launched at the Sandvik
Digitalization in Mining event, in Brisbane,
Australia, recently, is both OEM and network
agnostic, according to Newtrax, and includes
peripherals such as sensors and control
interfaces to enable EMERST CAS (collision
avoidance solution) Level 9.
L9 will help establish technologies that
automatically intervene and take some form of
machine control to prevent or mitigate an unsafe
interaction, according to Newtrax. Newtrax says
the NVD allows underground hard-rock mines to
implement several safety and production control
solutions tailored to their needs.
Alexandre Cervinka, President & CEO of
Newtrax, said: “Proximity detection devices must
be designed to work without any network
infrastructure. We maintain this critical feature
and enhance the new generation of vehicle
devices with positioning and remote
communication capabilities, to enable near-miss
heat maps, operator behaviour monitoring and
remote firmware upgrades.”
In April of this year, Newtrax was acquired by
Sandvik to be run as an independent business
unit within the division Rock Drills and
Technologies in the business area Sandvik
Mining and Rock Technology.
Rham in ideal position with
hydrostatic drives
In an interview with Kevin Reynders, MD of Rham
Equipment, a leading domestic supplier of
underground mining equipment in South Africa,
for the article on SA suppliers in this issue, he
also outlined a not often mentioned factor in
these systems, namely brake wear. “CAS
systems cause heavy brake wear on conventional
mining machine designs, something not often
referred to but a big consideration. Currently
these systems just apply the brakes suddenly
whenever an obstacle is detected by sensors
such as another machine or a person. This means
they are being used far in excess to how an
operator would use them, where they would
make a judgement eg slowly applying the brake
or using the clutch to slow down. They can also
judge how to approach slippery conditions or a
steel ramp – again the CAS will have issues
here.” The upshot is that using CAS on
conventional machines is likely to result in huge
increases in brake maintenance costs.
Rham’s underground machines like its LHDs
have hydrostatic drives which are still Level 9
CAS compliant but due to their design cause no
extra wear to the brakes when a CAS is used. In
addition, Rham believes it offers unique flexibility in
terms of technology supply – its onboard computer
panel has space for 26 inputs so in theory could
accommodate any of the PDS supplier systems
without having to use lots of extra boxes onboard.
Caterpillar object detection and
proximity awareness for surface
mining vehicles
Caterpillar has multiple proximity detection
options, though still reserves actual collision
avoidance currently for its autonomous haulage
solution. Cat Vision uses cameras to see what is
around the machine. Cameras installed on all
sides of a machine such as a truck or at the rear
of a machine such as a wheel loader provide the
operator with views where sight lines are limited.
Cat Object Detection is designed for machine
start-up and initial movement, and it adds radars
to the cameras, which detect fixed and mobile
objects. The system provides an audible alert if
the operator attempts to move in the direction of
the detected object. Proximity Awareness uses
global navigation satellite system positioning to
alert operators of nearby machines. The highly
configurable system allows sites to define geo
zones for avoidance, hazards and speed limits,
and it captures machine incidents and can play
back the incidents for training and incident
reconstruction.
More specifically, Cat Proximity Awareness
enables machine-to-machine proximity alarms as
well as safety zones across the site. Machines,
regardless of brand and including light vehicles,
communicate directly with one another,
eliminating the need for a robust, site-wide
wireless network. Incident data is stored onboard
until the machine comes within range of a
hotspot where data is transmitted to the office
for incident capture and reporting.
Cat Proximity Awareness indicates the path of
travel on the in-cab display, alerting operators
when two or more machine paths intersect. The
system also enables configuring zones—machine
detection zones, restricted speed zones and
avoidance zones around known hazards.
Additionally, equipment operators are able to
mark hazards, such as spillage on a haul road,
via the onboard display and share hazard
locations. The system records incidents for
playback, analysis and training opportunities.