Published in March 2006 Australian Longwall Magazine

Soon longwall mines around the world will be able to integrate in real time key data from ventilation, strata, environmental, atmospheric, operational, statutory, production and maintenance reports with personnel and equipment location and personal communication systems. This data will then be crossed with historical events and present the results of this analysis, again in real time, through state-of-the-art 2D, 3D and 4D user interfaces.

Ultimately, this system will provide predictive, real-time risk management strategies to generate pre-emptive responses – with the added benefit of eliminating the endless stream of false and non-critical alarms that consume energy, resources and valuable time.

The system is CSIRO’s Nexsys, a system which promises to deliver world-first capabilities in real-time risk profiling, hazard management, control and decision support and next generation Ethernet-enabled communications systems using internationally certified IEC Ex ia (Intrinsically Safe) hardware.

Nexsys’s story began in 2002 when an internationally collaborative project – the Enhanced Mine Communications and Information System for Real-time Risk Management – was established. The project was funded by the CSIRO, the Japan Coal Energy Center (JCOAL) and ACARP, with in-kind support from Anglo Coal’s Grasstree mine in Queensland and Xstrata’s Beltana mine in New South Wales.

According to CSIRO mining research director Greg Rowan, the catalyst for the project was the huge amount of data (up to 20,000 IOs) that is streamed into control rooms from separate proprietary systems, the number of false alarms generated by these complex interactions and the need to bring IT experts onto site to modify the systems.

To date Grasstree and Beltana have the systems installed and are providing user feedback to help enhance the systems.

According to Rowan the project is nearing completion with the Intrinsically Safe hardware undergoing the final stages of the certification process with final manufacture versions being tested at Beltana and at Japan’s Kushiro Coal Mine.

At time of writing, the manufacturing and commercialisation contracts are also in the final stages of negotiations and are expected to be signed by the parties in the next few weeks.

The Nexsys system consists of both software applications and Intrinsically Safe hardware that provides for the real-time sourcing and integration of critical data sets from the range of proprietary systems; analysis through a rules-based inference engine, development of 3D trigger action response plans, historical analysis and action logs; and state-of-the-art 3D graphic interfaces and autonomous call-up of the latest mine plans and current workings.

The system utilises fully managed, Ethernet-based communication protocols over multi- or single-mode fibre optic cables allowing for the future integration of the ever increasing array of Ethernet enabled devices. For example, PDAs, VoIP phones, web-cameras, wireless Ethernet sensors, virtual environments and base stations, training and emergency response technologies.

In a typical Australian longwall mine the system can be used to integrate the various sensors’ outputs that impact on longwall operations – goaf gases, ventilation pressures, production rates, traffic movements, desorption rates and the movement and location of people – into a single database that can be accessed from a simple interface.

CSIRO has prepared detailed user guides and installation manuals for the software systems and has developed a number of training modules for users and administrators. During November last year CSIRO conducted a week-long training course for Japanese engineers in preparation for the Kushiro installation.

The software is written using C# and the client-server architecture is designed to connect to multiple data sources (different existing and proprietary monitoring systems), most databases (SQL, Oracle and MSAccess), and directly to any serial protocol output sensor or PLC device (through the serial to Ethernet protocol converter over either copper or CAT5 cable and through either multi-mode or single mode optical fibre).

So in the scheme of things, what does this new technology mean for the international longwall sector? According to Rowan, the project has created the world’s first, fully managed, fibre optic IEC Exia Ethernet enabled communication backbone.

“There is the potential for a wireless communication network using wireless Ethernet, VoIP phones, multiple redundant pathways, self-configuring wireless networks, distributed intelligent network systems where actions can be initiated at the source instead of awaiting responses from central control points and real-time analysis of safety critical data sets,” Rowan said.

The system not only has application in Australia, but also in the worldwide market, particularly in the US where there has been a legislative push for multiply redundant and robust two-way communications, Rowan said.

“This technology includes IEC Exia two-way paging, tracking and messaging systems – the wireless potential of the technologies provides the opportunity to develop ground-breaking first response technologies for rescue teams,” Rowan said.