WO2005052515A1 - System for determining the position of an underground mining or constructionn vehicle - Google Patents

System for determining the position of an underground mining or constructionn vehicle Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2005052515A1
WO2005052515A1 PCT/SE2004/001728 SE2004001728W WO2005052515A1 WO 2005052515 A1 WO2005052515 A1 WO 2005052515A1 SE 2004001728 W SE2004001728 W SE 2004001728W WO 2005052515 A1 WO2005052515 A1 WO 2005052515A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
antenna
mining
stationary
construction vehicle
determining
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/SE2004/001728
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Sverker Hartwig
Original Assignee
Atlas Copco Rock Drills Ab
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Atlas Copco Rock Drills Ab filed Critical Atlas Copco Rock Drills Ab
Publication of WO2005052515A1 publication Critical patent/WO2005052515A1/en

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S5/00—Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more direction or position line determinations; Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more distance determinations
    • G01S5/02—Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more direction or position line determinations; Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more distance determinations using radio waves
    • G01S5/12—Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more direction or position line determinations; Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more distance determinations using radio waves by co-ordinating position lines of different shape, e.g. hyperbolic, circular, elliptical or radial
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E21—EARTH DRILLING; MINING
    • E21F—SAFETY DEVICES, TRANSPORT, FILLING-UP, RESCUE, VENTILATION, OR DRAINING IN OR OF MINES OR TUNNELS
    • E21F17/00—Methods or devices for use in mines or tunnels, not covered elsewhere

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a system for determining the position of at least one underground mining and/or construction vehicle of the kind defined in the preamble of claim 1.
  • the invention further relates to a method and a mining or construction vehicle of the kind defined in the preamble of claims 8 and 12, respectively.
  • Automatic vehicles that is, vehicles that manoeuvre unmanned by themselves or remotely controlled, are used in a number of applications.
  • unmanned vehicles such as rock drilling equipment, loading vehicles and other mining vehicles may be used in underground mines.
  • GPS Global Positioning System
  • An example of a laser-controlled navigation system is a system where the vehicles are provided with a rotating laser that detects items.
  • the mine is provided with a number of reflector sticks or reflective paintings on the mine walls.
  • the exact location of the sticks or paintings are stored in a data base, and when the laser rotates it registers the sticks or paintings and their respective bearing and a processor in the vehicle can by a look-up method determine the exact location of the vehicle.
  • This method has the disadvantage that the sticks or paintings might be removed without update of the data base, thereby causing positioning problems for the vehicle.
  • no reflectors at all are used and the laser is instead used to scan the rock wall. Scanning the rock wall, however, gives rise to an enormous amount of data which in turn requires considerable computer power to determine the position of the vehicle. Further, due to the enormous amount of data, this embodiment makes it hard to perform real-time positioning for moving vehicles, in particular fast moving ones.
  • Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining the position of underground mining and/or construction vehicles, which solves the above mentioned problem. This object is achieved by a method as defined in the characterising portion of claim 8.
  • the system for determining the position of mining and/or construction vehicles includes at least one antenna on the mining or construction vehicle and at least one other antenna.
  • the mining or construction vehicle further includes a gyro.
  • the other antenna is a stationary antenna, and the stationary antenna and/or the antenna of the mining or construction vehicle is an antenna array.
  • the system further includes means for determining at least the direction of the mining or construction vehicle in relation to the stationary antenna by processing information received by the antenna elements of the antenna array, wherein the means for determining the direction further includes means for determining the distance between the mining or construction vehicle and the stationary antenna, and wherein the determined direction and/or distance is used to reset the gyro.
  • the vehicle may, using the gyro, continue to navigate with knowledge of its exact position in areas where the stationary antenna (s) do not have full coverage until contact with a stationary antenna again is reached .
  • a mine since a mine usually comprises a rather complex structure of galleries, which may be narrow, it is often impossible for a mining or construction vehicle to be within range of more than one stationary antenna at a time. Using the present invention, however, it is possible to obtain a sufficiently exact position in spite of the fact that a signal from only one stationary antenna is used for positioning.
  • the array antenna may be located on the mining or construction vehicle. This means that only the antenna on the mining or construction vehicle has to be an array antenna, which is advantageous since a mine may comprise a plurality of stationary antennas but only a few unmanned vehicles, this thus simplifies the system.
  • the array antenna may comprise two, three, four or more elements. This has the advantage that for example an array antenna with four elements arranged in a square may be used to determine individual phase differences between the elements in order to determine the direction to a stationary antenna.
  • the system may comprise a plurality of stationary antennas, where each stationary antenna may be arranged to transmit an identity signal, such as a radio beacon signal or a signal at a particular frequency, identifying the stationary antenna.
  • identity signal such as a radio beacon signal or a signal at a particular frequency
  • the means for determining the distance and/or direction may use the distance and/or direction to two or more stationary antennas to determine the position of the mining and/or construction vehicle. This has the advantage that, where possible, two or more stationary antennas may be used in determining the position of the mining or construction vehicle, thus making it possible to achieve an even more exact location of the vehicle.
  • the system may use time and/or frequency division, such that two or more mining and/or construction vehicles may communicate with a stationary antenna simultaneously. This has the advantage that the position of two or more vehicles may be independently determined by simultaneous use of the same antenna ( s) .
  • the signals transmitted by the antennas may be arranged to be transmitted via a Wireless Local Area Network. This has the advantage that existing technologies may be used in the implementation of the system for determining the position according to the present invention.
  • Fig. 1 shows a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention .
  • Fig. 2 shows a second exemplary embodiment of the present inventio .
  • Fig. 1 depicts an underground system according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
  • the system includes a stationary antenna 2 mounted on a support 1, for example on a rock wall in the underground mine, and two unmanned vehicles 3 and 4.
  • the unmanned vehicles may as in the described example be used to transport goods from a location A to a location B, such as transporting drill cuttings from a drilling site A to a treatment site B.
  • the unmanned vehicles may however also be constituted by rock drilling equipment, loading vehicles or other mining vehicles for use in underground mines.
  • the vehicles 3 and 4 are provided with array antennas 5 and 6, respectively.
  • Each array antenna 5, 6 consists of four antenna elements 5a-5d and ⁇ a-6d arranged in a square, respectively.
  • the distance between each antenna element in an individual square may for example be equal to half the wavelength of the signal transmitted by the stationary antenna.
  • the frequency may be 3 GHz, thus resulting in a spacing of 5 cm in the above example.
  • the frequency of the radio signals may of course be any suitable frequency, and the distance between the antenna elements need not be equal to one half the wavelength, the distance may as an example also be one quarter of a wavelength or any other distance still making it possible to perform desired calculations.
  • the vehicles are further provided with processing means 7 and 8, respectively, for example including a digital signal processor or a central processing unit, for processing information received from or that are intended to be transmitted using the array antenna.
  • processing means 7 and 8 for example including a digital signal processor or a central processing unit, for processing information received from or that are intended to be transmitted using the array antenna.
  • the stationary antenna 2 transmits signals continuously or at predetermined intervals.
  • the signal is preferably an identity signal, such as a radio beacon signal or a signal at a particular frequency, identifying the stationary antenna and thus preventing that any other antennas may be mistaken for the stationary antenna.
  • the signal transmitted by stationary antenna is received by all antenna elements 5a-5d.
  • the signal from the stationary antenna is received individually by each antenna element 5a-5d with phase differences due to the spacing between the antenna elements 5a-5d.
  • the received signals with their respective phase differences are then processed by the processing means 7 in the vehicle.
  • the exact position of the stationary antenna in relation to its surroundings is programmed into the processing means.
  • the processing means are able to, by performing mathematical calculations on the received signals, determine the direction to the stationary antenna in relation to the vehicle.
  • the absolute direction may be obtained by combining this information with a compass course of the vehicle.
  • the direction determining method may be combined with a method that measures the propagation time between the stationary antenna and the vehicle, whereby the distance may be calculated.
  • the processing means include enough computer power, the timing advance measurement may be omitted and instead multipath reflections of the signal transmitted by the stationary antenna may be included in the calculations, resulting in that the distance, and thus the exact position, may be obtained by calculations on the received signals only.
  • the possibility to obtain an exact position is very advantageous since, in a mine, the accuracy requirements of in particular the distance to the stationary antenna is rather great when navigating in narrow galleries.
  • the obtained position is then used to reset the gyro in the vehicle in order to correct possible deviations of the gyro.
  • the solution according to the present invention is particularly advantageous in a location where there are only one or a few stationary antennas in the mine, and/or where it is not possible for the vehicle to always be within reach of a stationary antenna.
  • the gyro is used for inertial navigation where the position is continuously controlled based on measurements of accelerations of the vehicle and subsequent conversion of these measurements into speed, direction and travelled distance. This kind of navigation, however, has the drawback that the gyro needs resetting every once in a while in order to work properly.
  • the array antenna may be used to obtain an exact position of the vehicle every now and then and use this position information to reset the gyro, thus making it possible to again perform inertial navigation with high precision and also allow high precision navigation when the stationary antenna (s) are out of range.
  • the exact position of the vehicle may then be used, according to the above, by the vehicle to navigate to its destination and/or be transmitted to the stationary antenna for further processing in a control centre 9, which the stationary antenna is in connection with over a communication link 10, depicted as a dashed line in fig. 1.
  • the position information may be used to control the manoeuvres of the vehicles, for example to send move-instructions to an unmanned drilling equipment to put it in a desired drilling position, or to reprogram a vehicle to navigate for example between two new locations.
  • the control centre may further transmit information, such as operation instructions or requests for position information, for example at predetermined time intervals, to the vehicle via the stationary antenna.
  • the radio communication may for example be carried out using technology of WLAN standards.
  • the communication may further be time and/or frequency divided to allow simultaneous communication between the stationary antenna and two or more vehicles.
  • the vehicles When there are more vehicles than one, as in fig. 1, it may be advantageous that the vehicles have knowledge of the respective positions of the other vehicles in order to avoid collisions. This may for example be accomplished by the vehicles, continuously or at predetermined intervals, which intervals may depend on the speed of the vehicle, i.e. that the vehicle will not be able to move more than a predetermined distance during the interval, transmitting their positions to the control centre via the stationary antenna, whereupon the stationary antenna transmits these positions to all vehicles in the system or, alternatively, to certain vehicles in the proximity of each other.
  • the antennas on the vehicles may be used to receive position transmissions directly from other vehicles, i.e. without the use of the stationary antenna.
  • a combination of the two methods may be used, where the method to be used primarily depends on the distance and/or obstacles between the vehicles and/or transmission power.
  • FIG. 2 an alternative exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown.
  • fig. 1 there are two vehicles 3, 4 with array antennas 5, 6.
  • fig.2 there are four stationary antennas 11, 12, 13, 14, similar to the antenna 2 in fig. 1 and mounted on a support 15, 16, 17 and 18, respectively, for example on a rock wall in the underground mine .
  • the respective processing means in the vehicles may calculate the direction and distance to a stationary antenna as described above.
  • the vehicle may be in contact with two or more stationary antennas, it can determine its position by calculating the direction and distance to two or more stationary antennas and, thereby calculate its position so as to obtain an even more accurate position.
  • the vehicle 3 in fig. 2 may calculate the direction and distance to the stationary antennas 11 and 12 and thus determine its position which is where the dashed lines intersect each other.
  • the vehicles may be capable to communicate with each other and, by using the position of each other, use each other as "stationary antennas" .
  • each stationary antenna preferably transmits an identity signal, and more preferably each stationary antenna transmits an antenna unique identity signal. This has the advantage that the system allows that it may always be known in relation to which antenna the relative position of the mining or construction vehicle is determined.
  • the processing means in the vehicles may every now and then be provided with updated information about antenna locations, for example when a new stationary system has been added to the system or when an antenna is removed from the system or is relocated .
  • the array antenna has been provided on the vehicle. It is, however, of course also possible to have ordinary antennas on the vehicles and instead provide the stationary antenna with the array antenna. This might be advantageous in systems including only one stationary antenna and two or more vehicles since in this case the information processing need only be carried out at one location, for example by processing means in the control centre, and the fewer number of array antennas and processing means reduces the costs of the system.
  • processing means connected to the stationary antenna calculates the direction and/or distance to the vehicles by receiving signals transmitted by the antenna on the vehicle (the vehicles might in correspondence to the stationary antenna (s) as described above in connection with figs. 1 and 2 transmit a signal identifying them from other vehicles) .
  • This position information may then be transmitted to the vehicle for use in its navigation.
  • two or more stationary antennas with antenna arrays may be used to determine the direction to a vehicle, thus making it possible to determine the position of the vehicle as the intersection of the directional lines from the stationary antennas, similar to the method described in connection with fig. 2.
  • the processed information may further be used to send manoeuvring instructions from the stationary antenna to the vehicles in order to avoid collisions.
  • the array antenna consists of four antenna elements in a square.
  • the described technique also works with two antenna elements spaced apart, or three or four or any number of antenna elements arranged in a straight line or any other geometrical configuration, the more antenna elements, the better resolution in determining the position of the vehicle may generally be obtained.

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for determining the position of at least one underground mining and/or construction vehicle, the system including at least one antenna on the mining or construction vehicle and at least one other antenna. The other antenna is a stationary antenna, and the stationary antenna and/or the antenna of the mining or construction vehicle is an antenna array. The system further includes means for determining at least the direction of the mining or construction vehicle in relation to the stationary antenna by processing information received by antenna elements of the antenna array. The invention further relates to a method and a mining or construction vehicle.

Description

System for føtermining the position of an underground mining or construction vehicle
Field of the invention The invention relates to a system for determining the position of at least one underground mining and/or construction vehicle of the kind defined in the preamble of claim 1.
The invention further relates to a method and a mining or construction vehicle of the kind defined in the preamble of claims 8 and 12, respectively.
Background of the invention Automatic vehicles, that is, vehicles that manoeuvre unmanned by themselves or remotely controlled, are used in a number of applications. For example, unmanned vehicles such as rock drilling equipment, loading vehicles and other mining vehicles may be used in underground mines.
As is the case in many other areas, also mining is subject to a constant wish to reduce costs and increase safety for the mining personnel. One approach to achieve this is to automatize the mining by use of unmanned vehicles. For example, drilling may be performed by remotely controlled rock drilling equipment, thus making it possible to perform the actual drilling without personnel present at the drilling location. Further, the blocks resulting from a previous blasting operation may be loaded for transportation by an unmanned loading vehicle. However, since underground mines often comprise a rather complex structure of galleries, which structure further is constantly changing as mining is progressing, the use of unmanned vehicles thus requires a reliable navigation and positioning system. One such system is the Global Positioning System (GPS) . This system, however, has the disadvantage that the signals from the GPS satellites do not reach underground mines. The prior art discloses attempts to solve this problem by development of specific systems that are particularly suitable for e.g. underground mining. Such systems include the use of electromagnetic means (such as a laser) or gyros or combinations thereof.
An example of a laser-controlled navigation system is a system where the vehicles are provided with a rotating laser that detects items. In one embodiment the mine is provided with a number of reflector sticks or reflective paintings on the mine walls. The exact location of the sticks or paintings are stored in a data base, and when the laser rotates it registers the sticks or paintings and their respective bearing and a processor in the vehicle can by a look-up method determine the exact location of the vehicle. This method, however, has the disadvantage that the sticks or paintings might be removed without update of the data base, thereby causing positioning problems for the vehicle. In an alternative embodiment no reflectors at all are used and the laser is instead used to scan the rock wall. Scanning the rock wall, however, gives rise to an enormous amount of data which in turn requires considerable computer power to determine the position of the vehicle. Further, due to the enormous amount of data, this embodiment makes it hard to perform real-time positioning for moving vehicles, in particular fast moving ones.
An alternative approach combines either of the above approaches with a gyro. The use of a gyro enables that scanning in only one plane is possible, thus limiting the amount of data that has to be handled. This approach, however, has the disadvantage that it is hard to get to function properly, for example if the vehicle has a flat tyre.
The above described embodiments further have in common the disadvantage that they require a large laser that is both easily damaged and expensive. Accordingly, there is a need for a reliable system for determining the position of underground mining and/or other construction vehicles that solves the above mentioned problems.
Summary of the invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system for determining the position of underground mining and/or construction vehicles that solves the above mentioned problems .
This object is achieved by a system for determining the position of underground mining and/or construction vehicles according to the characterising portion of claim 1. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining the position of underground mining and/or construction vehicles, which solves the above mentioned problem. This object is achieved by a method as defined in the characterising portion of claim 8.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a mining and/or construction vehicle for use in an underground system for determining the position of mining and/or construction vehicles that solves the above mentioned problems .
This object is achieved by a mining and/or construction vehicle according to the characterising portion of claim 12. The system for determining the position of mining and/or construction vehicles includes at least one antenna on the mining or construction vehicle and at least one other antenna. The mining or construction vehicle further includes a gyro. The other antenna is a stationary antenna, and the stationary antenna and/or the antenna of the mining or construction vehicle is an antenna array. The system further includes means for determining at least the direction of the mining or construction vehicle in relation to the stationary antenna by processing information received by the antenna elements of the antenna array, wherein the means for determining the direction further includes means for determining the distance between the mining or construction vehicle and the stationary antenna, and wherein the determined direction and/or distance is used to reset the gyro.
This has the advantage that the position of the mining and/or construction vehicle may be determined by a reliable system without expensive rotating components. Further, since both distance and direction to the stationary antenna is determined, an exact location of the vehicle may be obtained.
Even further, since the determined distance and/or direction is used to reset the gyro, the vehicle may, using the gyro, continue to navigate with knowledge of its exact position in areas where the stationary antenna (s) do not have full coverage until contact with a stationary antenna again is reached .
Also, since a mine usually comprises a rather complex structure of galleries, which may be narrow, it is often impossible for a mining or construction vehicle to be within range of more than one stationary antenna at a time. Using the present invention, however, it is possible to obtain a sufficiently exact position in spite of the fact that a signal from only one stationary antenna is used for positioning.
The array antenna may be located on the mining or construction vehicle. This means that only the antenna on the mining or construction vehicle has to be an array antenna, which is advantageous since a mine may comprise a plurality of stationary antennas but only a few unmanned vehicles, this thus simplifies the system.
The array antenna may comprise two, three, four or more elements. This has the advantage that for example an array antenna with four elements arranged in a square may be used to determine individual phase differences between the elements in order to determine the direction to a stationary antenna.
The system may comprise a plurality of stationary antennas, where each stationary antenna may be arranged to transmit an identity signal, such as a radio beacon signal or a signal at a particular frequency, identifying the stationary antenna. This has the advantage that the system allows that it may always be known in relation to which antenna the relative position of the mining or construction vehicle is determined.
The means for determining the distance and/or direction may use the distance and/or direction to two or more stationary antennas to determine the position of the mining and/or construction vehicle. This has the advantage that, where possible, two or more stationary antennas may be used in determining the position of the mining or construction vehicle, thus making it possible to achieve an even more exact location of the vehicle.
The system may use time and/or frequency division, such that two or more mining and/or construction vehicles may communicate with a stationary antenna simultaneously. This has the advantage that the position of two or more vehicles may be independently determined by simultaneous use of the same antenna ( s) .
The signals transmitted by the antennas may be arranged to be transmitted via a Wireless Local Area Network. This has the advantage that existing technologies may be used in the implementation of the system for determining the position according to the present invention.
Brief description of the drawings
Fig. 1 shows a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention .
Fig. 2 shows a second exemplary embodiment of the present inventio .
Detailed description of preferred embodiments
Fig. 1 depicts an underground system according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The system includes a stationary antenna 2 mounted on a support 1, for example on a rock wall in the underground mine, and two unmanned vehicles 3 and 4. The unmanned vehicles may as in the described example be used to transport goods from a location A to a location B, such as transporting drill cuttings from a drilling site A to a treatment site B. The unmanned vehicles may however also be constituted by rock drilling equipment, loading vehicles or other mining vehicles for use in underground mines.
The vehicles 3 and 4 are provided with array antennas 5 and 6, respectively. Each array antenna 5, 6 consists of four antenna elements 5a-5d and βa-6d arranged in a square, respectively. The distance between each antenna element in an individual square may for example be equal to half the wavelength of the signal transmitted by the stationary antenna. As an example, the frequency may be 3 GHz, thus resulting in a spacing of 5 cm in the above example. The frequency of the radio signals, however, may of course be any suitable frequency, and the distance between the antenna elements need not be equal to one half the wavelength, the distance may as an example also be one quarter of a wavelength or any other distance still making it possible to perform desired calculations.
The vehicles are further provided with processing means 7 and 8, respectively, for example including a digital signal processor or a central processing unit, for processing information received from or that are intended to be transmitted using the array antenna.
The stationary antenna 2 transmits signals continuously or at predetermined intervals. The signal is preferably an identity signal, such as a radio beacon signal or a signal at a particular frequency, identifying the stationary antenna and thus preventing that any other antennas may be mistaken for the stationary antenna.
When, for example, it is determined that it is time to obtain a correct position of the vehicle 3, the signal transmitted by stationary antenna is received by all antenna elements 5a-5d. The signal from the stationary antenna is received individually by each antenna element 5a-5d with phase differences due to the spacing between the antenna elements 5a-5d. The received signals with their respective phase differences are then processed by the processing means 7 in the vehicle.
The exact position of the stationary antenna in relation to its surroundings is programmed into the processing means. The processing means are able to, by performing mathematical calculations on the received signals, determine the direction to the stationary antenna in relation to the vehicle. The absolute direction may be obtained by combining this information with a compass course of the vehicle. In order to obtain an absolute position, the direction determining method may be combined with a method that measures the propagation time between the stationary antenna and the vehicle, whereby the distance may be calculated. Alternatively, if the processing means include enough computer power, the timing advance measurement may be omitted and instead multipath reflections of the signal transmitted by the stationary antenna may be included in the calculations, resulting in that the distance, and thus the exact position, may be obtained by calculations on the received signals only. The possibility to obtain an exact position is very advantageous since, in a mine, the accuracy requirements of in particular the distance to the stationary antenna is rather great when navigating in narrow galleries.
The obtained position is then used to reset the gyro in the vehicle in order to correct possible deviations of the gyro. The solution according to the present invention is particularly advantageous in a location where there are only one or a few stationary antennas in the mine, and/or where it is not possible for the vehicle to always be within reach of a stationary antenna. In a gyro navigation system, the gyro is used for inertial navigation where the position is continuously controlled based on measurements of accelerations of the vehicle and subsequent conversion of these measurements into speed, direction and travelled distance. This kind of navigation, however, has the drawback that the gyro needs resetting every once in a while in order to work properly. By using the positioning method according to the present invention, the array antenna may be used to obtain an exact position of the vehicle every now and then and use this position information to reset the gyro, thus making it possible to again perform inertial navigation with high precision and also allow high precision navigation when the stationary antenna (s) are out of range.
The exact position of the vehicle may then be used, according to the above, by the vehicle to navigate to its destination and/or be transmitted to the stationary antenna for further processing in a control centre 9, which the stationary antenna is in connection with over a communication link 10, depicted as a dashed line in fig. 1. In the control centre 9, the position information may be used to control the manoeuvres of the vehicles, for example to send move-instructions to an unmanned drilling equipment to put it in a desired drilling position, or to reprogram a vehicle to navigate for example between two new locations. The control centre may further transmit information, such as operation instructions or requests for position information, for example at predetermined time intervals, to the vehicle via the stationary antenna. The radio communication may for example be carried out using technology of WLAN standards. The communication may further be time and/or frequency divided to allow simultaneous communication between the stationary antenna and two or more vehicles.
When there are more vehicles than one, as in fig. 1, it may be advantageous that the vehicles have knowledge of the respective positions of the other vehicles in order to avoid collisions. This may for example be accomplished by the vehicles, continuously or at predetermined intervals, which intervals may depend on the speed of the vehicle, i.e. that the vehicle will not be able to move more than a predetermined distance during the interval, transmitting their positions to the control centre via the stationary antenna, whereupon the stationary antenna transmits these positions to all vehicles in the system or, alternatively, to certain vehicles in the proximity of each other. In an alternative embodiment, the antennas on the vehicles may be used to receive position transmissions directly from other vehicles, i.e. without the use of the stationary antenna. Alternatively, a combination of the two methods may be used, where the method to be used primarily depends on the distance and/or obstacles between the vehicles and/or transmission power.
In fig. 2 an alternative exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown. As in fig. 1 there are two vehicles 3, 4 with array antennas 5, 6. In fig.2 however, there are four stationary antennas 11, 12, 13, 14, similar to the antenna 2 in fig. 1 and mounted on a support 15, 16, 17 and 18, respectively, for example on a rock wall in the underground mine .
As in fig. 1, the respective processing means in the vehicles may calculate the direction and distance to a stationary antenna as described above. However, as the vehicle may be in contact with two or more stationary antennas, it can determine its position by calculating the direction and distance to two or more stationary antennas and, thereby calculate its position so as to obtain an even more accurate position. For example, the vehicle 3 in fig. 2 may calculate the direction and distance to the stationary antennas 11 and 12 and thus determine its position which is where the dashed lines intersect each other. In an alternative exemplary embodiment, the vehicles may be capable to communicate with each other and, by using the position of each other, use each other as "stationary antennas" .
As in fig. 1 each stationary antenna preferably transmits an identity signal, and more preferably each stationary antenna transmits an antenna unique identity signal. This has the advantage that the system allows that it may always be known in relation to which antenna the relative position of the mining or construction vehicle is determined.
The processing means in the vehicles may every now and then be provided with updated information about antenna locations, for example when a new stationary system has been added to the system or when an antenna is removed from the system or is relocated .
In the above described exemplary embodiments the array antenna has been provided on the vehicle. It is, however, of course also possible to have ordinary antennas on the vehicles and instead provide the stationary antenna with the array antenna. This might be advantageous in systems including only one stationary antenna and two or more vehicles since in this case the information processing need only be carried out at one location, for example by processing means in the control centre, and the fewer number of array antennas and processing means reduces the costs of the system.
In this case, processing means connected to the stationary antenna calculates the direction and/or distance to the vehicles by receiving signals transmitted by the antenna on the vehicle (the vehicles might in correspondence to the stationary antenna (s) as described above in connection with figs. 1 and 2 transmit a signal identifying them from other vehicles) . This position information may then be transmitted to the vehicle for use in its navigation. Further, two or more stationary antennas with antenna arrays may be used to determine the direction to a vehicle, thus making it possible to determine the position of the vehicle as the intersection of the directional lines from the stationary antennas, similar to the method described in connection with fig. 2. The processed information may further be used to send manoeuvring instructions from the stationary antenna to the vehicles in order to avoid collisions.
In the above description the array antenna consists of four antenna elements in a square. The described technique however also works with two antenna elements spaced apart, or three or four or any number of antenna elements arranged in a straight line or any other geometrical configuration, the more antenna elements, the better resolution in determining the position of the vehicle may generally be obtained.

Claims

1. System for determining the position of at least one underground mining and/or construction vehicle, the system including at least one antenna on the mining or construction vehicle and at least one other antenna, wherein the mining or construction vehicle further includes a gyro, characterised in:
- that the other antenna is a stationary antenna, and that the stationary antenna and/or the antenna of the mining or construction vehicle is an antenna array, and
- that the system further includes means for determining at least the direction of the mining or construction vehicle in relation to the stationary antenna by processing information received by antenna elements of the antenna array, wherein the means for determining the direction further includes means for determining the distance between the mining or construction vehicle and the stationary antenna, and wherein the determined direction and/or distance is used to reset the gyro.
2. System according to claim 1, characterised in that the antenna array is located on the mining or construction vehicle .
3. System according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the array antenna comprises two, three, four or more antenna elements, for example four antenna elements in a square.
4. System according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the system comprises a plurality of stationary antennas, and that each stationary antenna is arranged to transmit an identity signal, such as a radio beacon signal or a signal at a particular frequency, identifying the stationary antenna.
5. System according to any of the claims 1-4, characterised in that the means for determining the direction and/or distance uses the distance and/or direction to two or more stationary antennas to determine the position of the mining and/or construction vehicle.
6. System according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the system uses time and/or frequency division, such that two or more mining and/or construction vehicles may communicate with a stationary antenna simultaneously.
7. System according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that signals transmitted by the antenna is arranged to be transmitted via a Wireless Local Area Network.
8. Method for determining the position of at least one underground mining and/or construction vehicles in a system including at least one antenna on the mining or construction vehicle and at least one other antenna, wherein the mining or construction vehicle includes a gyro, characterised in:
- that the other antenna is a stationary antenna, and that the stationary antenna and/or the antenna of the mining or construction vehicle is an antenna array, and that the method comprises the steps of: - determining at least the direction of the mining or construction vehicle in relation to the stationary antenna by processing information received by antenna elements of the antenna array,
- determining the distance between the mining or construction vehicle and the stationary antenna, and - using the determined direction and/or distance to reset the gyro .
9. Method according to claim 8, characterised in that the array antenna comprises two, three, four or more antenna elements, for example four antenna elements in a square.
10. Method according to any of the claims 8-9, characterised in that the system comprises a plurality of stationary antennas, and that the method further comprises the step of using the distance and/or direction to two or more stationary antennas to determine the position of the mining and/or construction vehicle.
11. Method according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the method uses time and/or frequency division, such that two or more mining and/or construction vehicles may communicate with a stationary antenna simultaneously .
12. Mining or construction vehicle for use in an underground system for determining the position of mining and/or construction vehicles, including at least one antenna and the system including at least one other antenna, wherein the mining or construction vehicle includes a gyro, characterised in:
- that the antenna of the mining or construction vehicle is an array antenna, and
- that the mining or construction vehicle further includes means for determining at least the direction of the mining or construction vehicle in relation to the stationary antenna by processing information received by antenna elements of the antenna array, construction vehicle and the stationary antenna, and
- means for using the determined direction and/or distance to reset the gyro.
13. Mining or construction vehicle according to claim 12, characterised in that the array antenna comprises two, three, four or more antenna elements, for example four antenna elements in a square.
14. Mining or construction vehicle according to any of the claims 12-13, characterised in that the means for determining the direction and or distance further comprises means for using the distance and/or direction to two or more stationary antennas to determine the position of the mining and/or construction vehicle.
PCT/SE2004/001728 2003-11-26 2004-11-24 System for determining the position of an underground mining or constructionn vehicle WO2005052515A1 (en)

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DE102005042257A1 (en) * 2005-09-05 2007-03-15 Rag Aktiengesellschaft WLAN access device for use in gas-prone mine buildings
DE102005042257B4 (en) * 2005-09-05 2007-10-31 Rag Aktiengesellschaft WLAN access device for use in gas-prone mine buildings
EP2576281B1 (en) * 2010-05-25 2020-06-24 Sandvik Mining and Construction Oy Rock drilling rig and method for positioning the same
US9670776B2 (en) 2011-08-03 2017-06-06 Joy Mm Delaware, Inc. Stabilization system for a mining machine
JP2016516987A (en) * 2013-03-14 2016-06-09 インダストリア・マイニング・テクノロジー・ピーティーワイ・リミテッド Miner position tracking and mapping
AU2014201513B2 (en) * 2013-03-14 2015-05-21 Industrea Mining Technology Pty Ltd Mining machine position tracking and mapping
AU2014201513A1 (en) * 2013-03-14 2014-10-02 Industrea Mining Technology Pty Ltd Mining machine position tracking and mapping
EP3094985A4 (en) * 2014-01-15 2017-09-13 Nokia Technologies OY Determination of a location of a device
CN103869282B (en) * 2014-02-14 2016-03-30 北京矿冶研究总院 Method and device for quickly acquiring course angle of trackless vehicle in underground roadway environment
CN103869282A (en) * 2014-02-14 2014-06-18 北京矿冶研究总院 Method and device for quickly acquiring course angle of trackless vehicle in underground roadway environment
JPWO2016098635A1 (en) * 2014-12-16 2017-08-03 株式会社村田製作所 Wireless base station
WO2017063018A1 (en) * 2015-10-16 2017-04-20 Caterpillar Underground Mining Pty Ltd A mobile machine and a system for determining a mobile machine's position
US11567493B2 (en) 2017-12-22 2023-01-31 Epiroc Rock Drills Aktiebolag Method and system for controlling communication of a mining and/or construction machine

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