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Report No: 2007 CAS1 Confidential

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5.3 GPS Based systems
5.3.1 How GPS works
The Global Positioning System (GPS) consists of a constellation of 27 Earth-orbiting
satellites (24 in operation and three extras in case one fails) Figure 29. These
satellites are in a fixed orbit approximately 20,000km above earth. The U.S. military
developed and implemented this satellite network as a military navigation system,
but soon opened it up to civilian use due to the potential benefits that it has e.g. For
ambulance, fire and police services to navigate to exact positions of accidents, fires
etc. A GPS receiver, such as a handheld unit or an electronic circuit board type
(Figure 30) receives radio messages from these satellites. The receiver then
calculates its distance from the satellite sending it a message. The receiver obtains
messages from at least three satellites in order to triangulate its position on the
earths surface. Typically a receiver would use around 6 to 12 satellites (if available)
to triangulate its position. The more satellites available the more accurate the
position fix. Because the earth is rotating, satellites appear and disappear over the
horizon, hence the more satellites that are available not only increases the accuracy
but also reduces the risk of loosing accuracy. In the past the US government
intentionally added errors to GPS because they feared that their enemies would use
GPS in their weapons systems. In 2000, President Clinton ordered that the error
(called Selective Availability (SA)) be removed. This has allowed GPS systems to
improve its accuracy to approximately 2m. In order to improve the accuracy of GPS
to centimetre level a differential correction signal needs to be used. A differential
correction signal is a signal that is transmitted from a transmitter whose position is
known very accurately. Differential correction is not a free signal (in the USA it is
free of charge but not necessarily free of charge in other countries).
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Figure 29. GPS satellite constellation.
Figure 30. GPS receiver board (OEM type).
5.3.2 GPS for Mining Conditions
GPS systems for tracking vehicles in mining conditions has a requirement for more
sophistication than everyday GPS units that are commercially available for highway
driving cars. Open cut mines are generally deep pits. Satellites signals may not be
able to penetrate deep inside the pit. In this case a constellation of fixed ground
based pseudolites are used to extend the coverage of GPS (Figure 31). Phelps
Dodge Morenci mine have a constellation of 5 Novariant Terralite pseudolites
together with a differential base station that enables them to increase GPS accuracy
to centimetre level (Figure 32). This costs in the region of US$ 750 000. Centimetre
level accuracy for collision avoidance is obviously not needed, but it is a pre-
requisite for surveying, drilling, blasting etc.
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Figure 31. Pseudolite solution to increase GPS positioning coverage in deep open pit
mines.
Figure 32. Novariant Terralite as seen at Phelps Dodge Morenci mine.
In addition to coverage issues such as multipath reflections (Satellites signals
bouncing of the pit benches etc.) can cause errors in the GPS calculations although
this is not commonly observed.
5.3.3 GPS based collision avoidance
GPS by itself cannot do collision avoidance it is simply a means to establish
position. By knowing the positions of vehicles in a mine and communicating these
positions to machines it is possible to start to have the first part of a collision
avoidance system based on GPS positioning. The principle of a GPS based collision
avoidance system is as follows:
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- Each machine is equipped with a GPS receiver to obtain its position
- In addition a communication system is required on each machine in order to
broadcast its position as well as listen to the position of other machines in the
vicinity (0 500m range) around. The communication network is probably where
the most differentiation occurs with GPS based systems.
- On each machine calculations are performed to see if any machine (light, heavy
etc. is a threat and an alarm is activated if it is a threat.
5.3.4 Systems
5.3.5 Acumine Proximity Detection System.
The company was established by The University of Sydney, CRCMining (formerly
the Cooperative Research Centre for Mining Technology and Equipment) and
researchers from the University's Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR). The
Proximity Warning System is a GPS based system that operates on Haul trucks,
Light vehicles as well as People. Three modules are used: Haul Truck Proximity
System (HTPS), Light Vehicle Proximity System (LVPS), Personnel Proximity
System (PPS) and a Base Station.
The HTPS alarms the haul truck driver when another truck, a light utility vehicle or
personnel is within the defined proximity of the haul truck. The haul truck forms an
ad-hoc mesh network with these agents, all of which are equipped with GPS, and
broadcasts its position and velocity. (Figure 33). The HTPS will generate a different
alarm according to the threat level, e.g. truck approaching in front, vehicle behind
etc.
The system uses a dedicated on-board computer for processing and alarming in the
haul truck and light vehicles. A Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) is used to warn
personnel such as pedestrians etc. Each agent uses a GPS sensor and an omni-
directional antenna for wide area coverage. All these agents are registered in a
single ad-hoc network. The area of operation is by line of sight of the agents in the
proximity and the area of detection is programmable through a configuration file.
This is possibly a limitation of the system. 802.11x systems based on line of sight
will typically give ranges of 100m 500m depending on conditions. However if line-
of sight is obscured such as on ramped curved roads or possibly at intersections this
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could become an issue and the system would not detect with required level of
fidelity.
Figure 33. Acumine Proximity Warning System architecture.
The operator interface is either a simple audible alarm or a full graphical interface as
shown in Figure 34. The system costs are expected to be in the region of US$ 10
000 but this has not yet been verified.
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Figure 34. Haul truck graphical interface.
The system works on the principle of a base station for the ad-hoc wireless network.
This is seen as one of the shortcomings of system. Should the base station fail then
the entire mine would be left without a functional collision avoidance system. The
ideal would be for a totally distributed architecture where communication between
machines is done peer to peer. Calculations for collision avoidance will be done on
each machine.
Summary
The Acumine Proximity Detection System has been installed on two Alcoa Mines in
Western Australia. The system can be classed as a long range high speed system.
There are two major drawbacks of this system. Both relate to the wireless network
system that they have adopted. One drawback involves the issue of line of sight
which cannot be guaranteed in mining environments. The other involves the use of a
base station which is a weak link that compromises the system long term operation.
The entire fleet would be left without a collision warning system if the base station
went down. A solution to this may be the use of simple radio communication instead
of 802.11x. The system application is also limited to mines that are relatively shallow
and with a good view of the sky.
5.3.6 NIOSH, Trimble, CAT, Morenci (development system)
After evaluating different radar and RFID based systems, NIOSH began
investigating new technologies. They put together an experimental system based on
GPS. The idea was that truck dispatch systems already have GPS on-board and
wanted to use this together with new software to be able to do collision avoidance.
NIOSH did tests at the Phelps Dodge Morenci mine together with Trimble (GPS
supplier and supplier of CAT MineStar equipment). Their tests were conducted over
an entire day in order to see the influence of the changing sky on the GPS
coverage. They did not have any issues however they did notice brief multipath
issues. The tests were considered successful with accuracy up to 2m being
achieved. The system was then handed over to Caterpillar and Trimble for
commercialisation but it has been reported by Ruff(2007) that this has not occurred
due to Caterpillar fearing litigation if the system failed. Ruff (2007) recommended
using GPS together with another technology such as radar would be advisable to a
level of redundancy.