At AIMEX in Sydney, Becker Mining has announced a three-year exclusive global agreement with ICAS Australia for the distribution of its ‘second-generation’ surface collision avoidance safety system – “said to be the most economical system on the market,” the company reports. Designed for surface mining and rail collision avoidance, ICAS complements Becker Mining’s underground collision avoidance products, said Jim Dwyer, the company’s National Sales & Marketing Manager. Features of the ICAS (Intelligent Collision Avoidance Systems) include:
- No nuisance/false alarms
- Real-time full situational awareness
- Configurable guard/alarm zones
- Operator graphical interface
- Automatic object detection
- GPS/compass heading sensor.
“We believe this product will revolutionise the surface collision avoidance market, as it uses the latest and most reliable GPS technology available – at a cost that makes it accessible for all mines, large and small,” Dwyer said. “ICAS is an industry game-changing product, providing the entire market affordable access to a critical safety system. Compared with other products available, it is the most economical in the market.
“In addition, it is truly a second-generation development, which has engineered out many of the issues with current products. ICAS is a critical safety system, with reliability, robust hardware and production continuity as the key design criteria.
“It is based around a proven GPS-VHF peer-to-peer system, ensuring that ICAS-equipped vehicles and infrastructure are always visible and identifiable to operators through a simple intuitive graphical HMI display,” he said.
Using GPS technology to provide full 360° equipment protection to an accuracy of ±1 m, ICAS detects the position of all nearby mobile plant, vehicles and fixed infrastructure that are also fitted with an ICAS unit within the configured zones. The system has a range of up to 20 km.
Once nearby vehicles or plant are detected, the system uses a secure VHF wireless network in conjunction with pre-configured alarms to alert all surrounding ICAS-fitted mobile vehicles. It provides a mix of audio and visual alerts, as well as an operator acknowledgement facility.
The operator display includes:
- Target machine types
- Target machine ID
- Target machine orientation (forward/reverse)
- Target machine speed
- Machine overspeed.
Dwyer said that while ICAS operates independently of all other infrastructure or networks, it was capable of expansion, as well as being able to accept other sensors for data collection. “However, its primary objective is as a safety system to keep personnel safe and prevent damage to assets.”
He said its 50-channel industrial GPS provided reliable 3D positioning, minimising the need for surface based repeaters.
On sites that have repeaters already installed, most systems can be integrated with the ICAS product.
“With real-time situational awareness essential to an effective collision avoidance system, ICAS enhances operator awareness with critical and accurate data – including vehicle orientation – using a combined GPS/compass heading sensor,” Dwyer said.
“All vehicles and infrastructure within the configured guard and alarm zones are displayed, ensuring operators have timely warnings of potential collisions.
“This increases safety, and minimises the chances of accidents or near-misses resulting from insufficient reaction time due to an operator’s lack of situational awareness.”
In addition, to minimise distractions and prevent information overload, ICAS “filters out” non-priority targets.
“It only displays the vehicles and infrastructure that may be on a collision course with the operator’s vehicle, removing the risk, uncertainty and stress related to working and interacting with mobile equipment in highly dangerous, congested, low-visibility and isolated environments,” Dwyer said.
Suitable vehicle, plant and personnel applications included:
- Heavy vehicle (HV) to heavy vehicle
- Heavy vehicle to light vehicle (LV)
- Medium vehicle (MV) to LV, HV
- Vehicle to personnel
- Fixed and mobile plant
- Advance train warning system
- Rail-track worker warning
- Rail level crossing activation
In addition, ICAS Portable units are available for use by short-term contractors. “Simply by fitting the portable magnetic base GPS, VHF antennas and the portable display to contractors’ vehicles, mines can ensure that all site vehicles are fitted with collision avoidance safety system while on site,” Dwyer said.
