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Following the success and industry acceptance of the original
CSIRO developed highwall mining guidance system, AMT undertook
the development of the next generation system - the Mk3 Highwall
Mining Guidance System.
 At
the heart of the Mk3 system is a custom developed software
application which supervises the complex control and communication
functions and incorporates an advanced graphical user interface.
The development of this software
was commissioned by Roche
Mining - one of Australia's largest contract mining groups.
The Mk3 Guidance System employs sophisticated
inertial navigation techniques and provides the operator with
accurate three-dimensional mining information. This includes
vital navigation information to enable the operator to accurately
guide the mining machine to a required path.
The system incorporates a
modular design that can be readily adapted to accommodate
specific client requirements.
The Mk3 Highwall Mining Guidance
System boasts the following major features
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- Integrated touch screen industrial
Panel PC and hardware interface
- Two wire high speed communications
channel
- Sophisticated system diagnostic
and fault finding software features
- Software 'Wizards' for step by
step system configuration
- 3D data visualisation capabilities
- Provision for remote system monitoring
and data transfer
- Solid state memory for data storage,
transfer and archive
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Click
the images for a larger view
The main screen provides the mining operator with a
touch screen graphical presentation of the main mining
parameters - drive penetration depth, heading and cross-track
deviation, coal pillar thickness, machine pitch and
roll.
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Information about
each highwall drive is automatically recorded and can
be displayed collectively in this three-dimensional
view. The operator can zoom, pan and rotate the view
using the convenient touch screen interface.
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Wizards provide step
by step assistance with all hardware and system configuration
tasks. The Pit Design Wizard is used to enter the drive
design parameters for each highwall pit. Supervisor
passwords are used to restrict access to configuration
level features.
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The Mk3 system incorporates
extensive self diagnostic features which alert the operator
to hardware and system faults, protects the system from
subsequent damage and pin-points the cause and nature
of the fault.
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