Contention avoidance

• US 9,046,371 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2013
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): ARTHUR JEANGLAUDE, GERTRUDE
• Application Number:
  US13/853,934
• Publication Number:
  US 20140297182A1
• Time in Patent Office: 795 Days
• Field of Search: 701/23, 701/32.9, 701/79, 701/301, 701/527, 701/537, 340/435, 340/436, 340/438
• 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 of navigating a first vehicle through a mining environment to a target destination, comprising:

identifying a route through the mining environment to the target destination for the first vehicle;

accessing a vehicle dynamics model database to identify one or more performance attributes for the first vehicle;

determining a first speed profile for at least a portion of the route using the one or more performance attribute for the first vehicle and the route;

accessing a fleet profile database to identify a location, an allocated speed profile, and an assigned route for a plurality of vehicles in the mining environment;

for each vehicle in the plurality of vehicles, analyzing the location, the allocated speed profile and the assigned route to identify one or more potential contention conditions associated with the route;

using the one or more potential contention conditions along the route to determine a second speed profile for at least a portion of the route;

determining an optimized speed profile using the first speed profile and the second speed profile; and

at least one of;

accessing a speed interface controller in the first vehicle to control a speed of the first vehicle in accordance with the optimized speed profile, and

communicating at least a portion of the optimized speed profile to a human machine interface in the first vehicle for display to an operator of the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first speed profile is a maximum speed profile.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second speed profile is a minimum acceptable speed profile, where the minimum acceptable speed profile accounts for the potential contention condition.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is a haul truck and the optimized speed profile is determined using a scoring function that optimizes a cost per ton of material transported of the vehicle.

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. A system, comprising:

a fleet profile database configured to store at least one of a current location, a velocity, an assigned route, and an allocated speed profile for a plurality of vehicles operating in a mining environment;

a processor configured to;

identify a route through a mining environment to a target destination for a first vehicle;

determine a first speed profile for at least a portion of the route;

for each vehicle in the plurality of vehicles, analyze the at least one of the current location, the velocity, the assigned route, and the allocated speed profile to identify one or more potential contention conditions associated with the route;

use the one or more potential contention conditions along the route to determine a second speed profile for at least a portion of the route;

determine an optimized speed profile using the first speed profile and the second speed profile; and

at least one of;

access a speed interface controller in the first vehicle to control a speed of the first vehicle in accordance with the optimized speed profile, and

communicate at least a portion of the optimized speed profile to a human machine interface in the first vehicle.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first speed profile is a maximum speed profile.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the second speed profile is a minimum acceptable speed profile, where the minimum acceptable speed profile accounts for the potential contention condition.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the vehicle is a haul truck and the optimized speed profile is determined using a scoring function that optimizes a cost per ton of material transported of the vehicle.

11. The system of claim 7, where the potential contention condition is an occupied resource contention.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the potential contention condition is a roadway contention or an occupied intersection.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of:

identifying a route through a mining environment to a target destination for a first vehicle;

determining a first speed profile for at least a portion of the route;

accessing a fleet profile database to identify at least one of a location, an allocated speed profile, and an assigned route for a plurality of vehicles in the mining environment;

for each vehicle in the plurality of vehicles, analyzing the at least one of the location, the allocated speed profile and the assigned route to identify one or more potential contention conditions associated with the route;

using the one or more potential contention conditions along the route to determine a second speed profile for at least a portion of the route;

determining an optimized speed profile using the first speed profile and the second speed profile; and

at least one of;

accessing a speed interface controller in the first vehicle to control a speed of the first vehicle in accordance with the optimized speed profile, and

communicating at least a portion of the optimized speed profile to a human machine interface in the first vehicle for display to an operator of the vehicle.

14. The medium of claim 13, wherein the first speed profile is a maximum speed profile.

15. The medium of claim 13, wherein the second speed profile is a minimum acceptable speed profile, where the minimum acceptable speed profile accounts for the potential contention condition.

16. The medium of claim 13, wherein the vehicle is a haul truck and the optimized speed profile is determined using a scoring function that optimizes a cost per ton of material transported of the vehicle.

17. The medium of claim 13, where the potential contention condition is an occupied resource contention, a roadway contention, or an occupied intersection.