Tag Archives: HxGN LIVE Global

HARD-LINE’s TeleOp tech to be offered as part of HxGN Autonomous Mining portfolio

Hexagon’s Mining division has enhanced its collaboration with Canada-based tele-remote technology leader HARD-LINE, building on a previous distribution agreement the two companies announced back in September 2021.

HARD-LINE’s TeleOp technology allows the tele-remote operation of heavy machinery from a control station in a safe area on surface or underground, regardless of distance. In addition to safety benefits, there are significant productivity advantages to deploying such technology, utilising the equipment over shift changes in underground mines, for example.

Hexagon’s Mining division’s relationship with this technology was previously made up of a distribution agreement. Now, TeleOp is being incorporated into the wider automation offering that comes under the recently announced HxGN Autonomous Mining portfolio.

Speaking last week at HxGN LIVE Global 2023 in Las Vegas, Rob Daw, Chief Innovation Officer at Hexagon’s Mining division, said: “We are strengthening that partnership with HARD-LINE to enhance what the tele-remote solution can do and bring it together into the wider autonomy offering we have within Hexagon’s Mining division.”

HARD-LINE says it has developed “by-wire solutions” for more than 200 equipment models covering several OEMs, with more than 3,000 conversions completed to date.

The closer collaboration between the two companies is already being witnessed in Brazil where Hexagon’s Mining division, HARD-LINE, Scania and Fidens are working on the deployment of teleremote technology at a mine in the country.

Rodrigo Couto, President, LATAM, Hexagon’s Mining division (on the far right), explained: “In Brazil, there is a law dictating that you cannot operate equipment on a manual basis by areas deemed too risky, such as tailings dams, decommissioned & other reclaimed areas. This means tele-remote technology and automation are the only choice to carry out operations.”

Hexagon’s Mining division and HARD-LINE have sold several kits to clients in the country, with one of these kits heading to an operation overseen by Fidens, which has installed a tele-remote kit on a Scania G 500 6×4 Prime Mover.

Couto said: “This is reducing the risk of operators at the tailings operation and also allowing Fidens to operate in areas that, by law, were previously off limits.”

Hexagon’s Mining and Autonomy & Positioning divisions to combine expertise

Hexagon at HxGN LIVE Global 2023, in Las Vegas, has announced that its Mining and Autonomy & Positoning divisions have joined forces to enable more automation at scale, and ease and speed of application.

The announcement, coming at the Intelligent Mining Summit, was made by Nick Hare, President, Hexagon’s Mining division, and Maria Luthström, President, Hexagon’s Autonomy & Positioning division.

“We’re bringing together our best solutions…to enable autonomy at scale; make it simple to implement and make it (automation) easy to use,” Hare said.

The formation of Hexagon’s new autonomous solutions partnership aims to create the world’s largest provider of autonomous solutions for off-road, heavy industries, according to Hare.

The company’s Autonomy & Positioning division leverages positioning technology and products from its brands NovAtel, AutonomouStuff and VERIPOS to, it says, bring together cutting-edge positioning solutions for applications that require autonomy and positioning. Its positioning solutions are already being used across mining for many applications.

Hexagon’s Mining division expands with dedicated underground mining portfolio

Hexagon’s Mining division has, today, introduced HxGN Underground Mining, an integrated sensor-software portfolio built for the unique challenges of underground environments, at its HxGN LIVE Global 2023 event in Las Vegas.

Featuring what it says are robust systems for collision avoidance, drill optimisation and production planning, the new portfolio helps mines to achieve the best results while protecting drivers, pedestrians and equipment in the most demanding environments.

For Hexagon’s Mining division, meanwhile, it enables the company to further diversify its revenue stream, which is currently skewed towards the open-pit mining sector.

Hexagon says today’s announcement responds to industry demand as more mines push deeper beneath the surface for deposits and face ever more complex conditions. The aim is to provide mines transitioning from open-pit to underground operations – or those mining orebodies from surface and underground simultaneously – with a holistic solution for the life of mine.

HxGN Underground Mining, the company says, effectively creates a seamless technology transition from open pit to underground mining. Its safety suite, for example, leverages collision avoidance and operator alertness systems proven in more than 40,000 vehicles worldwide in open-pit environments.

Similar integration is at work in the portfolio’s operations suite, which helps mine operators and supervisors to manage underground fleet equipment and to optimise production in real time via a dynamic activity scheduler and fleet management system (HxGN MineOperate UG Pro fleet management system). Engineers, via the HxGN MinePlan Underground Engineering product, can avoid flawed mining processes and minimise downtime by using 3D visualisation, and CAD tools to create mine designs and activity-based schedules, the company says.

The portfolio’s optimisation software for production and development enables mines to achieve consistent blasting outcomes with high-precision drilling and optimal set-up processes. The company added to this portfolio recently with the incorporation of Minnovare. The Australia-based company has established four solutions – The Azimuth Aligner, Development Optimiser™, Production Optimiser™ and Minnovare Core – to improve the speed, cost and accuracy of underground drilling.

Beyond benefitting business, better drilling practices are good for the planet, reducing CO2 emissions and supporting sustainability goals, Mateus Quintela, Hexagon’s Head of Product, Underground Mining, said.

“We know mines are looking for ways to mine smarter, safer and in more environmentally and socially conscious ways,” Quintela says.

“HxGN Underground Mining will help our customers answer this search by increasing the efficiency of machines and miners throughout the operation. Well-choreographed scheduling will minimise the downtime of working areas, like headings and stopes, and there’s a real opportunity to reduce diesel emissions through better truck-to-loader planning.

“Perhaps most importantly, our new portfolio offers ways to ensure operators and supervisors are capturing and using safety data, so whether above ground or below it, everyone gets home safely.”

Hexagon’s Mining division highlights Power of One progress with new autonomous solutions launch

Hexagon’s Mining division, on the day HxGN LIVE Global 2023 kicks off in Las Vegas, has introduced a new autonomous portfolio to its planning, operations and safety technology portfolios, signalling its intent to continue to solve the mining industry’s biggest challenges.

HxGN Autonomous Mining is a portfolio that protects people and equipment while addressing the challenges of operational productivity and decarbonisation, Hexagon’s Mining division says.

“By helping to autonomously manage vehicle traffic, improve fleet situation awareness and introduce drill automation, the new portfolio empowers mines to future-proof operations with the foundational building blocks of full operational autonomy,” it explained.

These building blocks include tools providing autonomous world perception, path planning in both manned driver-assist and autonomous operation, and machine intervention up through control on mining vehicles and drills primarily in open-pit environments and haulage operations.

HxGN Autonomous Mining unites Hexagon’s Power of One hardware with its core computing platform, connecting a unique ecosystem of sensors and software, according to the company. “The portfolio can help mines to succeed today while preparing for tomorrow,” Andrew Crose, Vice President, Autonomous Mining, Hexagon’s Mining division, said.

The Power of One platform is a holistic, life-of-mine smart solution connecting sensors, software, in-field apps and cloudware. The aim is to connect the mine to the boardroom via a single on-board ecosystem comprising a smart computer, antenna and display.

Nick Hare, President of Hexagon’s Mining division, told IM on the side lines of the Las Vegas event, hosted at Caesar’s Forum, that the company has rapidly moved from concept to reality with the Power of One platform.

He explained: “At MINExpo 2021, we announced the Power of One concept. Last year at HxGN LIVE Global, we told everyone it was now available and ready to implement. This year, we’re able to talk about real deployments that will start from the next quarter.

“We’ve moved from concept to deployment in just under two years, defying the supply chain issues that have affected everyone in this industry.”

The building blocks that are part of HxGN Autonomous Mining include the World Perception suite of detection solutions; mining’s first Level-9 collision avoidance technology, Hexagon’s collision intervention system, HxGN MineProtect Vehicle Intervention System; HxGN MineOperate Reverse Assist for optimised shovel and truck spotting; HxGN Autonomous Mining VIS Analytics to analyse and compare information such as locations, equipment and more; the intuitive drill automation platform, HxGN Autonomous Mining Drill Assist; HxGN Autonomous Mining Platooning Solutions to maximise the safety of ore haulage, boost cost-efficiency and reduce carbon emissions; and HxGN Autonomous Mining Mission Manager Solution to empower pit controllers and dispatchers to optimise the movement of autonomous and non-autonomous vehicles, and mine production activities through one interface.

The company’s “unparalleled” technology stack – as Crose refers to it – can currently automate around 80% of the processes involved in open-pit haulage, according to Hare.

In an on-the-road scenario, the company can already automate the majority of functions, as it is proving out with Mineral Resources Ltd on its autonomous road train project. In pit haulage, it is also working on an autonomous haulage system (AHS) solution to compete with the likes of Caterpillar and Komatsu’s own AHS platforms. Parts of this are likely to be seen operating later this year. In terms of autonomous drilling, the company is getting even closer to the fully-autonomous benchmark through work it is carrying out with Phoenix Drill Control.

While not all Power of One users will leverage the entire technology stack from the off, Hare said he is expecting many companies to quickly add building blocks to their deployments as they familiarise themselves with the platform.

“We have significantly improved upon the industry standard when it comes to the Power of One and this new automation platform,” he said. “For example, when integrating fleet management – under our HxGN MineOperate solution – and collision avoidance (the HxGN MineProtect Collision Avoidance System within the World Perception Suite), we can reduce the number of interfaces operators have to interact with. Depending on the scenario, we can highlight an optimised route to the crusher for a truck or make them aware of an impending collision on just one screen. This significantly improves the user experience, reduces the likelihood of incidents and improves productivity.”

Another significant enhancement the company has achieved with its Power of One platform is consolidating the numerous antenna fitted to open-pit trucks into a single antenna able to receive and, depending on the network and software settings, process the same amount of information.

“From a perception perspective, we have also moved up the tiers with our sensor solutions, going from a 2D radar-based system as was used for our initial collision avoidance systems to a 4D radar-based platform able to distinguish between people, berms, trucks, light vehicles, etc,” Hare said.

Add to this upgraded software to process all the valuable data coming off the sensor and the company believes it now has as close to an off-the-shelf commercial solution as can currently be obtained.

The platform is expected to bring immediate productivity benefits for customers – Crose mentions better blast outcomes with drilling automation to improved equipment performance and production via autonomously managed vehicle movement – but the reduction in hardware is also expected to lead to significant cost savings for clients.

“We are confident that this portfolio, under the auspices of the Power of One platform, will provide return on investment for clients,” Hare said. “While it is being integrated into a standardised offering that aids deployment cost and time, the starting point for every project is how to solve the problems the mining client is experiencing. We will take time to understand what issues they are having on site and ensure the system rules and algorithms are built in such a way as to prioritise solving these. At the same time, we will highlight as many opportunities to optimise their operations as we can.

“This is how we ensure that value is generated immediately from day one.”

Hexagon’s Mining division also introduced HxGN Underground Mining, an integrated sensor-software portfolio built for the unique challenges of underground environments, at the same event.

Hexagon’s Mining division progresses to Power of One platform implementation

Hexagon’s Mining division says its Power of One platform, a holistic, life-of-mine smart solution connecting sensors, software, in-field apps and cloudware, is now available and ready to implement.

This technology, the company says, connects the mine to the boardroom via a single onboard ecosystem comprising a smart computer, antenna and display. It helps empower customers’ digital transformation, connecting key mining workflows for a safer, more productive and sustainable future.

Hexagon unveiled the platform at HxGN LIVE Global, Hexagon’s digital reality solutions conference, taking place in Las Vegas, on June 20-23.

It follows the platform’s introduction at MINExpo 2021, in September, when Nick Hare, Hexagon’s Mining division President, said it marked the next step in Hexagon’s convergence journey and the “fulfilment of a commitment to connect all parts of a mine”.

Harnessing data from multiple sensors in a simple and consolidated software architecture, the platform helps mines to become situationally aware, self-learning and autonomously connected in the field and in the cloud.

For the customer, the platform offers an effortless experience with a seamless UI/UX and consistent functionality, according to the company. Reduced cost of ownership, reduced deployment and training time, reduced supply chain complexity and increased operator adoption are just some of the platform’s many benefits.

“The Power of One platform is a landmark enabler for next-generation autonomy,” Hare said. “It offers mines a uniquely intelligent approach based on open architecture to autonomously connect key mining ecosystems, such as exploration, planning, drill and blast, material movement and mine monitoring.

“It’s the scalable, platform-agnostic answer to challenges previously addressed by point solutions and multiple vendors.”

Rob Daw, Hexagon’s Mining division Chief Innovation Officer, described the platform as unique and profoundly disruptive.

“For the first time, one technology partner connects the mine to the boardroom via a single onboard ecosystem comprising a smart computer, antenna and display,” he said.

At MINExpo 2021, the company also debuted its new MineMeasure solution, part of Power of One, which streamlines a range of drill & blast technologies in one seamless workflow.