Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr
Issue link: https://emj.epubxp.com/i/148853
O P E R AT I N G S T R AT E G I E S Curing the Crowded Cab: Research for a Unified Shovel Operator Interface The Global Mining and Standards Group (GMSG), an organization for global mining collaboration on solutions to common industry problems, recently reported on progress achieved in its program for collaborative development of a unified miningshovel operator's interface. The GMSG noted that state-of-the-art technology developments have been driving mining-equipment productivity improvements forward at a steady pace, but a lack of integration has left operators faced with a confusing labyrinth of proprietary systems and multiple display devices. One example is on large shovels, today loaded with numerous independent operator interfaces and screens in the cab, posing potential safety risks such as lessened visibility, com- placency or inadequate response behavior, and insufficient situational awareness due to data and information overload. Operator efficiency and productivity are negatively affected as operations wrestle with the task of turning a vast amount of real-time equipment and production data into supportive operating information. This myriad of instruments, said the GMSG, needs to be orchestrated into an integrated interface designed to ensure the right information is available to the operator at the right time. In response, the organization is developing a unified operator interface that will pull together the many divergent systems seen today on large shovels. Work began in 2012 by SA Technologies, through site visits to Teck's Highland Valley copper mine Although technological advances have resulted in rapid development of performance monitoring systems, a lack of integration among these products has left mining shovel and other large-equipment operators facing a confusing conglomerate of proprietary systems and multiple display devices. 98 E&MJ; • AUGUST 2013 in British Columbia, and Barrick Gold's Goldstrike complex in Nevada. On-site interviews and onboard observations with 14 shovel operators fed the design of a unified operator interface that was made public by the end of the year. "The overall goal is to mitigate against the proliferation of displays in equipment cabs. This phenomenon leads to a low level of situational awareness for the operator, and can have a wide range of negative impacts from safety to productivity," said Andrew Chapman, production systems engineer, Barrick Gold and GMSG leader on this project. "We have focused our efforts on porting multiple independent data streams to a unified display while prioritizing the available alarms and information." This spring, Peck Tech Consulting was engaged to develop a working proof of concept (POC) software implementation of a Unified Shovel Interface, which integrates multiple vendors' systems into a single interface using only one or two displays. They are working toward a standard Application Programming Interface (API) for connecting onboard devices, and will produce a practical working example of a Unified Shovel Interface. According to Sandy Pyke, director of technical services at Peck Tech Consulting, this project is poised to enter the industry at a crucial time, and carries the potential to shift the operational landscape by addressing the divisive nature of existing operator interfaces and technologies. "This project is important because it will define a means for systems built by different suppliers to work together on one integrated display," Pyke said. "These suppliers are often competitors and achieving cooperation between them is difficult if not impossible without the definition of some form of standard." The project addresses some potential barriers from stakeholders, which is why it is being developed and rolled out in multiple phases and generations. "The first phase is aimed at allowing these systems to share a common screen with little to no involvement from the system supplier," Pyke said. "The second phase grows from this and allows those suppliers to send information to the display to communicate some inforwww.e-mj.com