Dr David C. Reid

Dr Mark Dunn

RDTG Operator’s Workshops Sept 2010

ACARP project C18023CM2010 – Continuous Miner Automation

Project Overview

• Project context• CM Automation component of the CM2010 initiative

• Project grand goal• A remotely supervised continuous miner for roadway development

• Project impact • Essential and major component of CM2010 goals • Immediate health and safety benefits• Immediate productivity benefits

• We are now halfway through 3 year project

Enabling Technology

• Need to develop navigation system suitable for accurate control of CM

• Can’t use GPS underground (without a lot of additional infrastructure)

• Technology needs to be physically robust, reliable, accurate and ideally self-contained (doesn’t rely on external infrastructure)

• Technology needs to work under all normal CM operating conditions

• Inertial navigation meets most of the above criteria• Already proven in longwall mining automation (but higher

performance required for CM automation)• Reasonably self contained (but needs odometry/velocity aiding)• Has the additional benefit of providing real-time accurate CM

pitch/roll/heading information at the CM• Need to develop a non-contact odometry solution for this system to

be practical

CM Navigation Solution: INS + Odometry

• Presently evaluating INS and Odometry Solutions

INS

Odometry

IMU

Gyros

Accels

NavigationEquations

Position

(AT, CT, VT)

Orientation

(Heading pitch Roll)

EnvironmentProcess

Aiding Source

Non-Contact Odometry

• Inertial navigation system requires an external aiding source to achieve required position accuracy

• An accurate non-contact odometer is key to practical CM navigation system:

• Needs to be non-contact to be practical • Needs to be rugged-isable• Needs to be immune/tolerant to dust, moisture, vibration• Needs to be very accurate – navigation algorithms are very

sensitive to latency (<40mS), accuracy, timing and measurement jitter

• Multi-sensor solution provides redundancy benefits

Non-contact Odometry Technologies

Visual

Laser

Radar

Other Radio (RF) localisation, ultrasonic, magnetic, …

Mono Stereo Multi

Point Multibeam 3D Scanning

UWB Doppler e-Steering

Results so far

• A CM navigation system has been developed • Non-contact odometry solutions have been developed for

velocity aiding using hybrid technologies• Ultra low speed Doppler radar• Optical flow position sensor (like an optical mouse)

• A skid steer vehicle The Phoenix has been customised for evaluating the navigation system performance

Mobile CM Test Platform: The Phoenix

Non-contact optical flow odometry and very low speed Doppler radar

Test Platform Development: Phoenix

• Phoenix provided a realistic CM-like platform for VMS-aided navigation testing

• Installation of RTK GPS equipment on Phoenix for ground-truth reference

• Installation of RTK surveyed base station at QCAT and radio link to Phoenix

• Doppler radar and optical position sensor installed• Sagem Sigma30 INS installed• Custom-developed control and communication systems installed • Navigation experiments conducted on both paved and unpaved

(rough) tracks

Results: CM Attitude Monitoring

Accurate heading/pitch/roll information available on CM

Phoenix Navigation Testing Area

• Test tracks – monorail/paved road and rough unpaved track

Phoenix Navigation Testing

• [external video]

Next Stages

• Further enhancement to the navigation solutions• Additional evaluation with lower performance inertial system• Further control system development• Development of Mine-To-Plan software tool• Field trials

• Quarry• Underground

Summary

• A practical CM navigation systems has been developed and demonstrated under limited operating conditions

• New non-contact odometry technologies have been demonstrated

• Further development and testing required under more realistic operating conditions

Contact UsPhone: 1300 363 400 or +61 3 9545 2176

Email: enquiries@csiro.au Web: www.csiro.au

Thank you

Exploration and MiningDr David C. ReidPrincipal Research Engineer

Dr Mark T DunnResearch Engineer

Phone: 07 3327 4437Email: david.reid@csiro.au