Mining
Software and Remote Operations
Integrated Management System (IMS) has been an integral part of mine sites across the globe in their transition from manned to autonomous operations. The platform has significantly lowered costs through its effective integration and presentation of data, giving businesses better Operational Intelligence of their site.
FTP’s Operational Technology Support Centre (OTSC) provides the expertise needed for successful management of autonomous and manned mine sites. Our engineers and technicians quickly and effectively analyse issues affecting asset availability and connectivity, allowing mine sites to maximise productivity.
Any modern mining operation requires an extremely reliable and robust communications network to ensure that critical application data, such as the Fleet Management System packets, are delivered from the server to the devices in the field. This is even more critical in autonomous operations where any interruption to service or connectivity has a direct impact on safety and production.
Our OTSC remote service has been developed to deliver expert knowledge, diagnostic tools, and transparent performance reporting to enable effective governance and management of technology in both autonomous and manned mining operations.
Benefits
Autonomous Journey
FTP can help you achieve autonomy on your mine site. The OTSC team can support clients during the transition from manned to autonomous haulage operations. Utilising FTP’s hardware – which is installed in an onsite asset and leverages in-house expertise remotely – the OTSC team can test and validate a network’s ability to support Autonomous Solutions for hauling prior to an AOZ going live.
Wireless Network Planning
Through the use of IMS Wireless Manager module, customers can monitor their network connectivity coverage in real-time by utilising RF Planning and Heatmap functionality. A poorly planned wireless network can seriously affect the productivity of your assets and staff. A well planned and implemented wireless network will pave the way for the implementation of autonomous assets. IMS gives you the tools to assess and adjust your setup for maximum coverage and efficiency.
Track Assets In Real-time
The vendor agnostic approach of IMS allows you to visualise data from a number of different assets on your site. From autonomous vehicles to water trucks; IMS gives you a single platform to monitor and geolocate your assets, while also gathering key data points relevant to your operation.
Focus On Operational Intelligence
Having good Operational Intelligence is key to running an effective site. It focuses on your day-to-day operations and ensures you are operating at maximum efficiency so that you can make more informed and accurate BI decisions. IMS allows you to visualize key data points relevant to the operations of your site. It can quickly and easily identify issues with your assets through error codes and alerts. IMS can also notify you on key triggers, so your reactions can be quick and targeted.
Reduce Production Impacts in Autonomy
Production Impacting events such as bubbles can cause a disruption to your bottom line. A bubble event occurs when a single asset loses connectivity and has a knock on effect to other assets.
By tracking your assets and their network connectivity in real-time, you can significantly reduce the time it takes to identify the underlying reason for a major bubble. Take the blindfold off and review the historical data that lead to the incident occurring. Save money by avoiding costly investigations into network connectivity breakdowns.
Remote Service
OTSC provides the expertise needed for successful governance and management of autonomous and manned mine sites. Our engineers and technicians quickly and effectively analyse issues affecting asset availability and connectivity.
Integrate Into FTP Services
OTSC services integrate directly into a site’s existing support structures, engaging the various on-site teams and OEM Support Models for maximum collaboration.
Customisable and Consulting Solutions
FTP has been operating in the autonomy space since 2012 and brings a wealth of experience. The level of operational support is flexible and can be tailored to any mining operation’s requirements. FTP Solutions’ broader experience in information systems, wireless networking/LTE and autonomous mining operations can be called upon as required.
Autonomous Support
A problem for onsite resources when supporting Autonomous Solutions is that it is difficult to determine where exactly an error has occurred in autonomous haulage systems when it arises. It is therefore hard to decide which resources need to be mobilised to address the issue, further compounding the event’s impact. This can all be resolved with IMS, as data is clearly tracked and recorded for your benefit and the sources of errors are quickly identified.
Root Cause Analysis
The OTSC team routinely and systematically diagnoses the root cause of each significant expander – or ‘bubble’ – event and provides supervisors with the information needed to help rectify the issue. The automated reports produced can contain hundreds if not thousands of individual events making it difficult for supervisors to focus their efforts. However, OTSC reporting provides visibility by ensuring relevant events are reported to the right places.