The University of Sydney

Technological Resources Pty. Limited

Patrick Stevedores Holdings Pty. Limited

Hugh Durrant-Whyte

Eric William Nettleton

Ross Hennessy

Ali Haydar Göktogan

Ali Haydar Goektogan

Eric Nettleton

Fabio Tozeto Ramos

Surya P N Singh

Peter James Hatherly

Shrihari Vasudevan

Surya P Singh

Arman Melkumyan

Pantelis Elinas

David C Rye

Gamini Dissanayke

Xiuyi Fan

Linthotage Dushantha Lochana Perera

Guralawela Ekanayake Mudiyanselage Dharmapriya Cha Bandara

Chris Innes

Juan Nieto

Allan Blair

Florian Oppolzer

Guralawela Ekanayake Bandara

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 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 ().

Control system for autonomous operation

A method is described of regulating movement of an autonomous entity between a first zone () and a second zone (), wherein the first and second zones each have an operation-defined geographical boundary within a defined geographical region. The autonomous entity is instructed to move into a transition zone () that spans the first zone and the second zone, wherein the autonomous entity while located in the first zone is responsive to supervisory control of a first controller () associated with the first zone. The autonomous entity is registered with a second controller () associated with the second zone to enable the autonomous entity to respond to supervisory control of the second controller as the autonomous entity enters the second zone through the transition zone. The autonomous entity is de-registered from the first controller.

Method and system for regulating movement of an entity between zones

A method of mining comprising: using a vehicle fitted with scanning module to scan a bench face of a mine bench for both geometric and geological information; making ore grade assessments of material at the bench face from the information provided by the bench face scan; removing material from the bench; and transporting removed material for processing. At least one of said removing, transporting, and processing is performed at least partially dependent on the ore grade assessments.

Scanning system for 3D mineralogy modelling

A method of computerized data analysis and synthesis is described. First and second datasets of a quantity of interest are stored. A Gaussian process model is generated using the first and second datasets to compute optimized kernel and noise hyperparameters. The Gaussian process model is applied using the stored first and second datasets and hyperparameters to perform Gaussian process regression to compute estimates of unknown values of the quantity of interest. The resulting computed estimates of the quantity of interest result from a non-parametric Gaussian process fusion of the first and second measurement datasets. The first and second datasets may be derived from the same or different measurement sensors. Different sensors may have different noise and/or other characteristics.

Method and system for multiple dataset gaussian process modeling

A method for modelling a dataset includes a training phase, wherein the dataset is applied to a non-stationary Gaussian process kernel in order to optimize the values of a set of hyperparameters associated with the Gaussian process kernel, and an evaluation phase in which the dataset and Gaussian process kernel with optimized hyperparameters are used to generate model data. The evaluation phase includes a nearest neighbor selection step. The method may include generating a model at a selected resolution.

Method and system of data modelling

An autonomous navigation system for a tracked or skid-steer vehicle is described. The system includes a path planner () that computes a series of waypoint locations specifying a path to follow and vehicle location sensors (). A tramming controller () includes a waypoint controller () that computes vehicle speed and yaw rate setpoints based on vehicle location information from the vehicle location sensor and the locations of a plurality of neighboring waypoints, and a rate controller () that generates left and right track speed setpoints from the speed and yaw rate setpoints. A vehicle control interface actuates the vehicle controls in accordance with the left and right track speed setpoints.

System and method for autonomous navigation of a tracked or skid-steer vehicle

A system and method are described for generating a model of an environment in which a plurality of equipment units are deployed for the extraction of at least one resource from the environment. The system comprises a pre-extraction modeling unit configured to receive data from a first plurality of heterogeneous sensors in the environment and to fuse the data into a pre-extraction model. An equipment modeling unit is configured to receive equipment data relating to the plurality of equipment units and to combine the equipment data into an equipment model. A post-extraction modeling unit is configured to receive data from a second plurality of sensors and to fuse the data into a post-extraction model. Information from the pre-extraction model, the equipment model and/or the post-extraction model is communicable to the equipment units for use in controlling operation of the equipment units in the environment.

Growing community of inventors

Rozelle, Australia

Hugh Durrant-Whyte