The University of Sydney

Technological Resources Pty. Limited

Eric William Nettleton

Hugh Durrant-Whyte

Charles Benjamin McHugh

Ross Hennessy

Ali Haydar Göktogan

Fabio Tozeto Ramos

Florian Oppolzer

Surya P N Singh

Shrihari Vasudevan

Arman Melkumyan

Peter James Hatherly

Pantelis Elinas

Annette Pal

Chris Innes

Linthotage Dushantha Lochana Perera

Guralawela Ekanayake Mudiyanselage Dharmapriya Cha Bandara

Charles Benjamin Mchugh

A systemfor controlling a drilling operation by a drill rigincludes a receiverfor receiving sensed data related to the drilling operation. A processoris in communication with the receiver, the processorprocessing the sensed data to estimate at least one geological property of interest of a zonein which the drill rigis active. The processoris configured to operate as a decision engineto optimize the drilling operation automatically by changing at least one drilling related parameter during the drilling operation based on the at least one geological property of interest.

Method of, and a system for, controlling a drilling operation

A planning system () for scheduling the operation of autonomous entities within a defined geographical region. The planning system operates at a region plan level () for strategic planning across the geographical region, at an operation plan level () for operations to be performed by autonomous entities in localised zones having operation-defined geographical boundaries, and at a task plan level () in which processing is undertaken in respect of specific tasks to be performed by the autonomous entities, in undertaking the operations.

Planning system for autonomous operation

A systemfor controlling operation of a vehiclein a defined areaincludes a perimeterdefining a boundary of the defined area. A user interfaceis provided for at least one of controlling and monitoring movement of the vehicleas it traverses the areaand monitoring the location of the vehiclerelative to the perimeter. The systemfurther includes a controllerto which the vehicleis responsive, the vehiclehaving a plurality of modes of operation, one of which is an autonomous mode and another of which is an operator controlled mode. The controlleris operative, when the vehicleis operating in the autonomous mode and the vehicle comes within a predetermined range of the perimeter, to inhibit the vehiclefrom crossing the perimeterand, when the vehicleis operating in the operator controlled mode or is converted from autonomous mode to operator controlled mode, to permit the vehicleto cross the perimeterunder control of the operator.

System for, and method of, controlling operation of a vehicle in a defined area

A surveying systemincludes a data storage systemcontaining survey data defining a terrain modelof a region. A processor moduleis configured to interrogate the data storage systemautomatically to assess characteristics of the survey data to determine whether or not the survey data require updating and to provide instructions automatically to scanning equipmentto scan the regionto provide updated survey data to the processor moduleto enable the processor moduleto update the terrain model

Method of surveying and a surveying system

System for, and a method of, controlling operation of a vehicle in a defined area

A system () for controlling a drilling operation by a drill rig () includes a receiver () for receiving sensed data related to the drilling operation. A processor () is in communication with the receiver (), the processor () processing the sensed data to estimate at least one geological property of interest of a zone () in which the drill rig () is active. The processor () is configured to operate as a decision engine () to optimize the drilling operation automatically by changing at least one drilling related parameter during the drilling operation based on the at least one geological property of interest.

A planning system () for scheduling the operation of autonomous entities within a defined geographical region. The planning system operates at a region plan level () for strategic planning across the geographical region, at an operation plan level () for operations to be performed by autonomous entities in localized zones having operation-defined geographical boundaries, and at a task plan level () in which processing is undertaken in respect of specific tasks to be performed by the autonomous entities, in undertaking the operations.

Methods and systems are described for tracking material through a production chain or operational process chain in which the material is transferred via a plurality of spatially distinct lumped masses of material (). A dynamic state space () is maintained descriptive of the plurality of spatially distinct lumped masses of material, wherein a quantity of entries in the dynamic state space is augmented or diminished dependent on a quantity of spatially distinct lumped masses being tracked. Measurements relating to an observed lumped mass of material are fused into the dynamic state space and a dynamic covariance matrix to provide an updated estimate of material in the plurality of spatially distinct lumped masses of material.

Method and system for tracking material

Methods and systems are described for effecting autonomous operations within a defined geographical region (). A plurality of localized zones () having operation-defined geographical boundaries are specified within the region. A plurality of control modules are established associated with respective ones of the localized zones and autonomous operations are effected under the supervisory control of the control module associated with the localized zone in which the autonomous operation occurs. The geographical disposition of the boundary of at least one of the localized zones is varied within the defined geographical region.

Integrated automation system for regions with variable geographical boundaries

Autonomous operations are conducted within a defined geographical region. In an autonomous system of a management party a plurality of localized zones are established having operation-defined geographical boundaries within the geographical region. Entities having autonomous operating systems to perform specific autonomous operations within respective ones of the localized zones. The autonomous system of the management party is integrated with the autonomous operating systems of the entities.

Integrated automation system

Methods and systems are described for generating a data representation of a geographical region as an adjunct to conducting autonomous operations within the region. The method comprises receiving information specifying a plurality of localized caused zones having operation-defined geographical boundaries within the region; receiving heterogeneous data descriptive of the region; associating the received data with respective localized zones; fusing the received data associated with the localized zones into data representations of the localized zones; and integrating the data representations of the localized zones into a common data representation of the geographical region.

Integrated automation system with picture compilation system

Described herein is a method and system for vehicle localization in an open pit mining environment having intermittent or incomplete GPS coverage. The system comprises GPS receivers associated with the vehicles and providing GPS measurements when available, as well as one or more camerasoverlooking the mine region. The camerasare at a known location and are used for generating a sequence of images in a field of view with predetermined calibration in a fixed coordinate system. The system further comprises a vehicle recognition processorfor analyzing individual images from the camera to identify and locate within an image a vehicle in the mine region, as well as a vehicle tracking processorfor analyzing a sequence of images from the camera to track the identified vehicle location in the sequence of images. A data fusion processoris coupled to receive GPS measurements, when available, from the vehicle GPS receivers, to fuse the received GPS measurement and corresponding vehicle image location, and to output a vehicle localization output

Vehicle localization in open-pit mining using GPS and monocular camera

A hierarchical control system () for supervising operations of an autonomous operator located within a defined geographical region containing a localized zone having an operation-defined boundary. The control system () has a primary controller () associated with the defined geographical region and a secondary controller () associated with the localized zone. The secondary controller () is responsive to the supervisory control of the primary controller (). The autonomous operator, if located within the localized zone, is responsive to the supervisory control of the secondary controller ().

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Research, Australia

Eric William Nettleton