Introduction

The Proximity detection system and Haulcheck include the basic hardware and software infrastructure required to provide fleet monitoring capabilities. This system provides information about haul truck utilization without any additional communication infrastructure.

Depending of the optional installed the system can provide information about truck trajectories (position, velocities), vehicle utilisation etc.

The information is collected by a base station located at the crusher is transferred to a database in a server computer and becomes availabe to the internal intranet. This information is available each time the truck visit the crusher. This information can be used to evaluate the utilisation of the resources and for other productivities objectives.

Background

In this type of application the trucks move ore from loading to dumping points. The trucks and other resources required to perform the operation are expensive and utilization close to 100% is desired while maintaining safety and avoiding operator fatigue. Truck monitoring has been implemented with full network coverage to track the resource position in real time. This approach is shown in figure where all trucks are in constant communication with a processing system. In order to provide full coverage a communication link needs to be established around the mine. This usually requires a significant communication infrastructure and periodic maintenance. In some mines, due to the geometry of the terrain this approach can be very expensive. The information is then used to implement optimal resource dispatching and to provide off-line reports regarding the utilization of the resources.

Due to the complexity, installation and maintenance cost of these implementations very few small mines are able to take advantages of this vital information to improve their productivity

Acumine Solution

This system addresses the fleet monitoring problem without requiring the installation of the full communication infrastructure. If the trucks are fitted with Haulckeck or the Proximity system they will download the information logged during the last trip to the base station. TThis inormation is then transferred to a database in a server connected to the network. Flleet monitoring capabilities are implemented that use the data available in the database.

Base Station

To collect the data from the trucks, a base station computer is connected to the mesh network and the information is downloaded when the trucks are in network range. By installing the base station at a proper location, i.e. crusher, we can guarantee that the information is downloaded once per haul truck cycle (loading – dumping).

The base station collects the information from the trucks and make it available to the mine database. 

The system installed in the trucks can log position, velocity, proximity events, alarms, truck deviations and other vehicle parameters such as tire pressure etc. This information becomes available to the base station once per truck cycle. It can then be used to generate equipment utilisation reports for production purposes and to provide feedback to the truck driver. The analysis and report can be done while the operator is still dumping the load at the crusher.

It is important to note that this form of collecting information differs from all other existing approaches since it does not require a full network to be installed in the mine.

The information downloaded by the base station is transfer to a database in a server station. This database is available to the internal network of the mine.

The base station installed in the crusher downloads the truck
information and makes it available to the internal intranet.

Fleet Monitoring

The next Figure shows an application of this concept to truck fleet monitoring. In this case the trajectory of all the trucks can be replayed using the data collected from the vehicles. The accumulation of trucks in loading or crushing areas can be detected and measured, which is a useful feature for mine planners.

The statistics (cycle time, etc) can be extracted from the data and provided to management, an essential component of a fleet management system. Also, the proximity system can be used to implement message passing from the base station to vehicles in the mine. For example, a truck leaving the base station for a haul trip can carry a message and transmit this message to other vehicles until the required message destination is found.

The haul roads are automatically generated from the truck trajectory and cycle times are evaluated.

Videos showing the performance of the system are presented in the Multimedia section.

Safety

The systems equipped with Haulckeck or Proximity will have the capabilities of logging the alarms generated by the drivers. The base station downloads the data from the trucks and performs and analysis of the events generated during the last trip. This report can be made available on-line to the driver while waiting to finish the dumping task.