Mine safety collision avoidance solution

The PDS2400 is an RF-based proximity detection solution that supports collision awareness and proximity warning between fast moving vehicles, as well as between vehicles and people. This solution provides a turnkey, ready-to-go system, which requires zero calibration before use.

The new solution helps mine operators ensure that they comply with all relevant safety legislation, such as Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) regulations in the USA. The PDS2400 CAS solution includes vehicle systems with Controller Area Network (CAN) bus-based displays and personnel tags with wireless Qi chargers, and operates for up to 50 hours between charges.

The PDS2400 provides proximity alerts with two viewing options: quad sectors or hex sectors. The standard system provides an accuracy of one metre over long ranges of 100m or more, while an optional dual-mode tag can provide even higher accuracy down to ten centimetres at short ranges of ten metres.

For high reliability, the system provides robust resistance against electromagnetic disturbances, whilst the personnel tag utilises a 'body pervasive' antenna design. There are three adjustable warning zones, and the vehicle system provides 'nuisance alarm suppression' for the driver.

Dr Jens Albers, CEO of nanotron, said: "Selectronic is very well known for its innovative mining safety solutions, and the PDS2400 proximity solution leverages nanotron’s strength in location awareness to bring an entirely new level of accuracy and simplicity to the industry."

Jens Richter, Managing Director of Selectronic, added: "Nanotron’s market-leading expertise in location awareness has enabled us to quickly and economically develop a powerful, robust, industry-grade collision avoidance system."

The PDS2400 uses nanotron’s tag-ready swarm bee products, a family of smart RF modules with ready-made anchors. Swarm bee enables Selectronic to provide a modular solution, with a common pin-out and API, which simplifies development and hardware integration, and thereby greatly reduces time-to-market.

With a coverage range of up to 500m, swarm bee modules can track objects with an accuracy down to ten centimetres. They provide a power-efficient approach that extends battery life of mobile devices and smoothly scales up and down to meet specific customer requirements.

The new PDS2400 will be available in Q2 CY19 and will be presented at embedded world in Nuremberg (Germany), on February 26th to 28th, 2019.