CONTENTION AVOIDANCE

• US 20160371979A1
• Filed: 09/02/2016
• Published: 12/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Modular Mining Systems Incorporated (Komatsu Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Modular Mining Systems Incorporated (Komatsu Ltd.)
• Inventors: Casson, William, Van Latum, Lucas, Lewis, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 10,062,287 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/00 Input parameters relating to infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45004 Mining
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0217 in accordance with energy consumption, time reduction or distance reduction criteria
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0287 involving a plurality of land vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00, particularly anticollision systems G08G1/16
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0968 Systems involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

A system and method for navigating a vehicle through a mining environment to a target destination is presented. The system and method may be utilized to avoid contention in the mining environment. A route through the mining environment to the target destination for the vehicle is identified and a first speed profile for at least a portion of the route is determined. A potential contention condition associated with the route is identified and the potential contention condition along the route is used to determine a second speed profile for at least a portion of the route. An optimized speed profile is determined using the first speed profile and the second speed profile, and at least a portion of the optimized speed profile is communicated to the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

analyzing target destinations of each of at least two vehicles to identify a potential contention condition between the at least two vehicles; and

after identifying the potential contention condition between the at least two vehicles, at least one of;

accessing a controller of a first vehicle of the at least two vehicles to control the first vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition, and

communicating with a human machine interface in the first vehicle to display an instruction to an operator of the first vehicle to cause the first vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition.

2. The method of claim 1, including, after identifying the potential contention condition between the at least two vehicles, at least one of:

accessing a controller of a second vehicle of the at least two vehicles to control the second vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition, and

communicating with a human machine interface in the second vehicle to display an instruction to an operator of the second vehicle to cause the second vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the target destination of each of the at least two vehicles to identify the potential contention condition between the at least two vehicles includes determining a route for at least one of the at least two vehicles.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least two vehicles is a haul truck.

5. The method of claim 1, where the potential contention condition is an occupied resource contention.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the potential contention condition is a roadway contention or an occupied intersection.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating with the human machine interface in the first vehicle to display the instruction to the operator of the first vehicle includes causing the human machine interface in the first vehicle to display a target speed using the human machine interface of the first vehicle.

8. A method, comprising:

determining a target destination or task for a first vehicle in a mining environment;

analyzing the target destination or task for the first vehicle to identify a potential contention condition involving the first vehicle; and

after identifying the potential contention condition involving the first vehicle, at least one of;

accessing a controller of the first vehicle to control the first vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition, and

communicating with a human machine interface in the first vehicle to display an instruction to an operator of the first vehicle to cause the first vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein analyzing the target destination or task of the first vehicle to identify the potential contention condition includes determining a route through the mining environment for the first vehicle.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first vehicle is a haul truck.

11. The method of claim 8, where the potential contention condition is an occupied resource contention.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the potential contention condition is a roadway contention or an occupied intersection.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein communicating with the human machine interface in the first vehicle to display the instruction to the operator of the first vehicle includes causing the human machine interface in the first vehicle to display a target speed using the human machine interface of the first vehicle.

14. A system, comprising

a fleet profile database to identify a target destination of at least two vehicles in a mining environment;

and

a dispatch system configured to;

access the fleet profile database to determine the target destinations of each of the at least two vehicles,

analyze the target destinations of each of the at least two vehicles to identify a potential contention condition between the at least two vehicles within the mining environment; and

after identifying the potential contention condition between the at least two vehicles at least one of;

access a controller of a first vehicle of the at least two vehicles to control the first vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition, and

communicate with a human machine interface in the first vehicle to display an instruction to an operator of the first vehicle to cause the first vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the dispatch system is configured to:

access a controller of a second vehicle of the at least two vehicles to control the second vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition, and

communicate with a human machine interface in the second vehicle to display an instruction to an operator of the second vehicle to cause the second vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the dispatch system is configured to determine a route through the mining environment for at least one of the at least two vehicles.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein at least one of the at least two vehicles is a haul truck.

18. The system of claim 14, where the potential contention condition is an occupied resource contention.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the potential contention condition is a roadway contention or an occupied intersection.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the dispatch system is configured to cause the human machine interface in the first vehicle to display a target speed using the human machine interface of the first vehicle.