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52 E&MJ; • MARCH 2016 www.e-mj.com S A F E T Y S Y S T E M S of integrated and stand-alone machine guid- ance systems and their role in site safety. With a stand-alone system, "…sites can drop a system on a contractor machine and set it to work—no muss, no fuss. Some mines wonder why they'd ever need to integrate their fleet management and machine guid- ance systems at all," noted the company, given their flexibility and cost advantages. But, it also cautioned readers not to underestimate the benefits that come with integration: "With an integrated system, all your equipment stays in sync. Each unit works from the same database so they share information easily, whether they're shovels or dozers, loaders or light vehicles. There's no need to export data, convert it to another format, then upload it into another system. "This kind of setup…improves safety," according to Wenco. "Any unit running Wenco's integrated BenchManager system sees every other unit connected to the fleet management system. The onboard screen shows their position, elevation, and current activity in real time. With that knowledge, dozers can easily maneuver around hazards and other equipment, even in foggy or dusty conditions. With a stand-alone system, equipment is confined to viewing only units on the same network. Any vehicles outside it need another way to stay safe on site." Wenco also noted that the Fleet Aware- ness feature of its PitNav software adds dis- play of real-time movement of other Wenco- equipped vehicles traveling haul roads, along with the map and route information that is the main thrust of the PitNav prod- uct. The truck icon displays front and rear awareness zones. When other equipped units and user-specified exclusion zones enter a specified proximity to a haul truck, configurable audio and visual warnings are triggered to support operator awareness. Todd Ruff, business development man- ager for SAFEmine Technology, explained to an audience at Mining Media's Haulage & Loading 2015 conference that his com- pany's approach has been to integrate fatigue monitoring with collision avoid- ance, eliminating the need for two different vendors supplying safety technology while using data from the CAS to make the fatigue data more reliable. The SAFEmine system uses on-vehicle processing and electronics that offer the ability to share data and present vehicle status and sum- mary data on a Web-based interface for safety and productivity reporting and analy- sis—working in conjunction with a mine's FMS, if they have one. He mentioned that a maintenance super- visor at a hardrock mine using the SAFEmine system had endorsed the system, noting that during the year after installation, the mine had a 53% reduction in vehicle 'metal-to- metal' contacts. A large surface coal mine customer also reported a reduction from 14 machine-to-machine incidents in the year before SAFEmine installation, to an average of one incident per year afterwards. Beyond the collision avoidance fea- tures, SAFEmine also offers TRACK live vehicle monitoring, which integrates with the CAS electronics, using that system to establish equipment position via GPS and then relaying the information to a TRACK server. Although this may seem redundant for operations that already have an FMS installed, it can be useful to keep track of service trucks and other equipment that fall outside of the primary production equipment category, but still need tracking and status information for efficient mainte- nance and support dispatch requirements. The system can transmit relevant safety information to the dispatcher, as well, and to laptop computers and smartphones. The TRAKR asset management device from Octagon Systems is another intelligent GPS vehicle-mounted tracking and control system that is claimed to integrate easily with FMS and IoT software to help mining and other industrial operations reduce risk through real-time, ongoing information shar- ing between people and equipment. TRAKR provides real-time access to mobile on-board or fixed field devices for remote monitoring and control and position tracking. According to the vendor, the system's geo-tracking and geo-fencing capabilities enable dispatch to alert drivers of impending danger, preventing collisions and keeping vehicles on the road, while a nine-axis motion sensor alerts man- agement of unsafe driving habits before accidents happen. Automatic alarms direct- ly alert drivers of potential issues. Octagon Systems, which has supplied a large number of its RMB-C2 embedded com- puters to Wenco for FMS applications, said TRAKR is designed to perform in extreme conditions and can withstand a wide tem- perature range (-40°C to 71°C). Built-in sup- port for high-power, wide-range Wi-Fi, cellu- lar, Ethernet, and radio technologies provide dependable communications to both outdoor and indoor network infrastructures. Remote Monitoring Via Satellite Apart from fleet-scale management and traf- fic control considerations, mining companies are among the many industry sectors inter- ested in technologies that allow simple mon- itoring and location tracking of equipment at remote sites. To assist with this requirement, Keytroller—a Florida, USA-based supplier of electronic safety and weighing devices—has introduced the Cyberwatch SAT, a ruggedi- Keytroller's Cyberwatch SAT uses satellite communications to provide operational data, status, and text commu- nication links with equipment and operators working in remote locations.