Proximity Detection Systems

With the global mining industry moving towards the legislated adoption of Proximity Detection Systems (PDS), they are becoming a critical control measure for improving safety in mobile mining equipment. PDS technology works to detect people and vehicles in the vicinity of an enabled vehicle and sounds an alarm for an impending hazard. In certain systems, the PDS is able to take control and initiate last-line-of-defence measures such as stopping the vehicle during an impending collision. Interactions covered include vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-person, and vehicle-to-structure.

However, effective implementation of such technologies to-date are rare due to a general lack of understanding (or misconception) of the technology’s true capabilities and limitations, the implications of the technology on operator/operational behaviour, change management issues and the industry’s general inexperience.

Reliability and functionality claims made by suppliers are not easily verifiable by the end user, at least not relative to any known framework, methodology, or standard. Additionally, there are many PDS units and multiple sensing technology categories used such as radio frequency, infrared, radar, ultrasonic, LIDAR, and combinations thereof. Sites can be further confounded when selecting a PDS unit because little is known about the actual strengths and weaknesses or what is effective/ineffective relative to specific operating conditions.

This leaves mining companies ill-equipped to decide which system type and functionality is best suited to their particular needs. Simply put, mining companies and suppliers do not have a consistent assessment protocol available to put the systems through their paces to determine how well a particular system might work for a given site.

It is for this reason that Mining3, in conjunction with Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) and Earth Moving Equipment Safety Round Table (EMERST), is working on a framework which will assist in benchmarking the accuracy and reliability of current PDS while determining if a particular sensing technology is appropriate for the specific conditions and requirements.

The project aims to:

1. Assess and clearly state the technical, functional, and capability aspects of proximity detection systems.
2. Cut through the complexity of the various sensing technology categories available.
3. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the various sensing technologies relative to environmental, situational, technical and human factors.
4. Develop and validate an open specification test regime targeting performance reliability and suitability.

The overall objective is to provide the industry with a rigorous testing platform for current and future PDS systems to ensure they perform as required for the given scenario.

• Provide confidence to the industry that systems being installed will perform in a well-defined manner for a given scenario.
• Improve the process of risk reduction for the end users by providing a quantitative metric on performance.
• Provide equipment manufacturers with a valuable tool to ensure that design decisions being made will enhance the system level performance in areas that directly improve risk reduction for the end users.
• Increase the uptake of PDS that will directly improve the safety of all mining systems.

Mining3 has proceeded with field verification and test programs, identified gaps and weaknesses of the current methodology and made recommendations for improvement. Mining3 has developed a PDS Toolkit that provides users with unbiased information on Proximity Detection System sensors to assist in their decision making process. As well as providing individual sensor information, the Toolkit contains a spider attribute chart that enables users to easily toggle between the sensors, identifying strengths and weaknesses for a specific application or attribute.