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Intelligent Collision Avoidance ­System

Becker Mining South Africa’s latest generation safety device, the Intelligent Collision Avoidance System (ICAS), provides situational awareness for operators to ensure optimum safety on site. This surface collision avoidance safety system also enhances productivity and operational continuity and reduces operating costs through the elimination or reduction of damage to assets.

“ICAS is a critical safety system which encompasses the latest industrial technology to provide reliable real-time 360° situation awareness for vehicle operators working in potentially dangerous and congested site applications, from coal pits to the ports,” says Andrew Trentelman, senior general manager: electronics, Becker Mining South Africa. “Blind spots, poor visibility and driver distraction are common causes for unwanted vehicle interactions on mine sites, processing plants, rail and road networks and ports. By creating awareness and eliminating blind spots, these hazards are reduced, which means fewer collisions and a lower risk of injury. Operators have improved reaction time to make decisions that will avoid near misses and collisions.

“This robust IP67 marine grade device, which consists of three components – the display unit, GPS antenna and radio antenna – ensures equipped vehicles and fixed infrastructure are always visible and identifiable to operators, even in harsh, dusty environments.”

Applications for ICAS include heavy vehicle (HV) to heavy vehicle, heavy vehicle to light vehicle (LV), medium vehicle (MV) to LV and HV, vehicle to personnel, fixed and mobile plant, advanced train and rail track worker warning and rail level crossing activation.

This system enhances operator awareness by providing accurate data, including vehicle orientation, using a combined industrial grade Global Positioning System (GPS) and compass heading sensor for maximum awareness at start up.

The 50-channel GPS receiver provides a high level of GPS coverage and reliable 3D positioning, minimising the need for surface based repeaters. If there is existing infrastructure, it can be incorporated into the ICAS system to increase system range.

ICAS equipped vehicles and machines within the configured guard and alert zones (up to 2 km) are represented via an intuitive graphical HMI display. Once detected, the system uses a secure radio wireless network to activate surrounding ICAS systems. The presence of vehicles and obstacles, within critical guard zones, is automatically advised to operators via visual and audible alerts.

ICAS can filter out non-priority targets and only displays the vehicles and infrastructure that may be on a collision course, thus removing the risk, uncertainty and stress related to working and interacting with vehicles in highly dangerous, congested, low visibility and isolated environments.

An ICAS portable worker unit has been designed for use by short-term contractors or visitors to a plant. This system, with magnetic mounts, is quickly installed in a vehicle. The antennas can be positioned on the vehicle’s roof and power is obtained from the cigarette lighter output.

Although information is data logged by each machine, ICAS and data can also be retrieved remotely via the ICAS radio network. An optional centralised PC-based vehicle tracking and event reporting system is available with data collection via the peer to peer ICAS in vehicle radio systems. This scalable system, with plug and play connectivity, requires minimal downtime for installation in all vehicle types. Other design features include easy screen navigation, low power consumption, no licensing requirements and regular firmware upgrades.

ICAS is also suitable for fixed plant, hazard awareness, data logging or access control at boom gates.

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