MineLink

Increase Mining Fleet Management Productivity with MineLink

MineLink Mining Fleet Management is an advanced Mining Fleet Management System (FMS) developed by SNCTechnologies to meet the needs of the mining sector. Delivering increased productivity and higher production, MineLink is a state-of-the-art feature-rich system that can be customized to customer requirements.

MineLink Mining Fleet Management FMS has been designed and developed based on SNCTechnologies’ more than 20 years of experience in the design, implementation, support, and maintenance of mining FMSs. MineLink easily scales from small to large mines with multiple pits and dumping areas. MineLink is rugged, built specifically to operate in harsh mining environments. MineLink is designed to be user-friendly and is highly configurable on the fly.

Benefits of MineTrack Fleet Management System

Greater Mining Productivity

The MineLink Fleet Management Optimizer is an intelligent automatic dispatcher increasing mine production by reducing loader hangs, truck queues, and truck cycle times. The MineLink Optimizer is the best in the market and will make your mining operations more efficient.

Greater Equipment Productivity

By increasing equipment efficiency, MineLink Mining Fleet Management will get more production out of your fleet. Increase production without increasing the fleet size.

Greater Manpower Productivity

MineLink Mining Fleet Management assists operators and supervisors to achieve the highest work performance by automatically assigning the operator to the most optimal loader or dump. Reduce lost manpower time waiting in queues or for the next truck.

EFH (Effective Flat Haul) Distances

EFH gives the user the actual distance travelled, not just the 2D flat distance. For example, if you are travelling up an incline, your actual travel distance is longer than if you just measure the flat distance as if you were looking down from overhead. In geometric terms, on a right triangle, the x-axis is shorter than the hypotenuse. EFH is the hypotenuse.

Better Mining Fleet Management Information & Reporting

Real-time information and reporting capabilities assist management, dispatchers, and supervisors in achieving their goals. MineLink Fleet Management provides not only “data” but concise and easy-to-read summary data that allows you to identify and fix problems in real-time rather than looking at yesterday’s problems.

Reduce Maintenance Cost

MineLink Mining Fleet Management provides connectivity to CAT VIMS, Komatsu VHMS, and other major heavy equipment OEM systems, so engine problems can be detected early before they require costly repairs. It also interfaces directly with PLM, TPMS, and supports SAE J1939 communication protocol standards. This means that you can monitor and stream engine performance data quickly and efficiently.

Complete Equipment Tracking

Complete mine operations real-time tracking of equipment position, activity, status, production, material, operator login, assignments, and engine hours. Complete with automatic truck cycle activity detection. MineLink Mining Fleet Management uses the most up-to-date next generation GPS and OEM interfaces that provide the most accurate cycle timing and activity detection features.

Onboard Moving Mine Map Gives the Big Picture

Operators, dispatchers, and supervisors can view a moving map of the entire mine site displaying all equipment in real-time. There are multiple map layers for each type of equipment, dumps, blasts, roads, and more. Users can enable or disable layers to suit their preferences or requirements.

Easy to Use Interface

Simple rich information Graphical User Interface (GUI) for the onboard operator unit includes site map, on-board messages back to base, KPI, and system information. Customized versions of the onboard GUI feature are available upon request and include language, icons, and forms.

Auto-Blending

With the auto-dispatching (optimizer), the system will automatically assign trucks to load, transport, and dump the right materials for the desired blend.

Spillage Assignment

If an operator notes a spillage on a road, the system will automatically dispatch a grader to clean it up.

Lower Fuel Costs

Typically 30% to 40% of operating costs go to fuel. 10% of this fuel is burned up waiting in queues or for premature fueling trips. MineLink reduces these losses.

TKPH (Tonnes Kilometer Per Hour)

MineLink can track and report how many tonnes are being hauled per Km hour.

MineLink is the Mining Fleet Management System for Today and into the Future

The MineLink onboard system consists of a rugged LCD touch screen integrated display and processor with WiFi communications and GPS tracking capabilities. Operators receive their assignments and update their status with the MineLink onboard unit. The moving mine map display always shows the operator their current position and guides them to their next assignment (loader, dump, etc.). The onboard screen also shows the location of other equipment around the mine that is installed with MineLink Mining Fleet Management or MineTrack.

Mining Fleet Management Dispatch Control Center

The operational heart of a MineLink mining fleet management system is the Dispatch Control Center. Here the mine dispatch controllers can monitor all of the equipment throughout the mine in real-time. Alerts for abnormal conditions like late arrivals and mis-routes flash on the dispatcher’s screen so immediate action can be taken. From the control center, special situations like reassigning trucks to work around breakdowns can be managed. Bottlenecks and delays are easily spotted so that they can be quickly remedied. Decisions can be made and immediately implemented.

Real-time KPI’s and Reports

Get complete report data at HQ, in the control center, on your computer, pad, or smartphone.

Report Samples

Activity History
KPI Dashboard
Dump Movement
Engine Hours
Engine State
Equipment Down
Equipment Down Current
Equipment Status
Equipment Status Current
Equipment Time Categories
Equipment Top Ten States
Equipment Top Ten Over Speed
Fleet Haul Distance
Fuel Summary
Loader Activity
Loader Activity Summary
Loader Lock Summary
Loader Operator Performance
Loader Summary
Material Movement
Operator Logins
Operator Logins Summary
Pre-Start Check
Production Summary
Shift By Hours
Shift Production
Status History
Truck Average Speed Summary
Truck Cycles
Truck Haulage
Truck Haulage Summary
Truck Haul Distance
Truck Operator Performance
Truck Over Speed Summary
Truck Summary
Truck Waiting at Shovel Detail
And many more can be customized on request
TKPH (Tonnes Kilometer Per Hour) track how many tonnes are being hauled per Km hour.

Mining Fleet Management – Onboard Interactive Touchscreen

A rugged MineLinkMobile LCD touch screen is installed in the cab of on-site mining equipment. This unit features a compact design with a 7 or 8″ WVGA TFT LCD monitor and a responsive resistive touch screen, allowing for intuitive operation even in challenging conditions.

The MineLinkMobile screen displays vital information, including cycles, assignments, mine maps, and KPIs. The onboard mine map enhances situational awareness by showing the locations of nearby vehicles and guiding operators along designated routes. These features significantly improve safety and operational efficiency at the mine site.

The KPI screen will provide each operator with all of their individual KPI parameters such as number of cycles, tons per hour, cycle time, and many more. This will help the operators to increase their productivity.

Tap the KPI icon to open the Key Performance Indicator screen to display all of the important KPI information specific for that vehicle so the operator can evaluate his individual performance and productivity..

Tap on the Map icon to open the Mine Map view which shows the current mine situation. This includes highlighting the other equipment around the unit and the immediate locations such as blast areas, dumps, and workshops etc. This feature provides the “bigger picture” to the operator during the operation of the equipment. The onboard mine map also updates automatically in real-time and will move along as the equipment moves.

Tap the Prestart Check icon to open the Prestart Check Menu. The operator must go through each of the prestart check items one by one before the system will allow the operator to go to the next screen. This assures that the operator is really doing a prestart check.

The button colour will change to green if there is a problem with one or more checklist items. Additional comments can be added within each prestart check item and the message will be sent to the Plant/Maintenance Dispatcher.

MineDispatch Mining Fleet Management – Dispatch Center Monitoring Software

MineDispatch is the dispatch control for the MineLink system. MineDispatch provides feature rich information and tools to manage the entire mining fleet. MineDispatch allows dispatchers, supervisors and managers to see and visualize exactly what is happening at any time across the entire mine site in real-time.

MineDispatch provides important information and visualisation such as machine position, machine status, machine activity, detailed operator information and accurate measurements of loads, volumes and dumps.

MineDispatch Fleet Management also provides user friendly tools for dispatchers and system administrators. It has tools to simply and accurately change the system configuration including creating new roads, new blast/dump locations and boundaries, adding new status information or alerts, adding new material types and many more.

The extremely flexible and interactive MineMap has multiple layers such as GPS history, wireless access point location, landmarks, boundaries and ESRI Shapefiles providing a broad overview of the mine site operations and infrastructure.

MineMap View with ESRI Shapefile Layers in Background

Simply & Easily Change Road Layouts Using Drag & Drop Method

Prestart Check Configuration – Different for Each Type of Equipment – Enable & Disable Features

Prestart Notification Message when an equipment operator reports problems

Shift Change Line-Up Mining Operations

In mining operations, smooth shift changes are crucial to maintaining productivity and safety. Streamlining shift changes not only saves time but also reduces operational delays. MineLink’s Operator Line-Up feature offers a smart and efficient way to manage workforce assignments-automating the check-in process, equipment allocation, and spare operator deployment.

The process of transitioning workers and equipment between shifts, ensuring a smooth and efficient handover of operations. This process is critical for maintaining productivity and safety, minimizing downtime, and optimizing resource allocation.

Shift Change Line-Up Objectives:

Productivity: Efficient shift changes minimize downtime, ensuring that equipment and personnel are ready to work at the start of each shift.
Safety: A well-managed line-up ensures that all personnel are aware of safety procedures, potential hazards, and any site-specific information relevant to their tasks.
Equipment Utilization: Proper shift change procedures prevent idle equipment, maximizing its operational time and return on investment.
Resource Optimization: Effective shift changes ensure that the right personnel and equipment are available for the right tasks at the right time.
Cost Reduction: Reducing downtime and optimizing resource utilization directly translates to cost savings for the mining operation.

Simplifying Operator Assignments

The Line-Up system allows operators to check in via a mobile Android app while still at home and before starting their shift. Once checked in, operators receive a temporary equipment assignment, including location, priority, and schedule. Upon arrival at the shift change area, the system updates their assignment to a final confirmed unit.

Key Benefits

Reduced shift change time. So the work starts sooner for greater productivity
Avoid delays due to no-shows
Automatic spare operator allocation based on priority and competency

How It Works:

Operator Check-In: Operators, while still at home, use the Line-Up mobile app to confirm attendance and receive temporary assignments.
Real·Time Assignment Update : Five minutes before the shift ends, the system finalizes the Line-Up and notifies each operator of their confirmed unit.
Dispatcher Visibility: Attendance and assignment status are visible to dispatchers via the MineDispatch dashboard

Mobile apps

Operators will fill in attendance via the Line-Up android application before starting the initial shift activity.

The operator will get temporary assignment. It contains information about shift change location, assignment equipment, assignment priority, and shift schedule.

5 minutes before the shift ends the system will update the final Line-Up data so that each operator will get a final assignment.

Dispatchers can monitor the attendance status of operators on the Shift Attendance menu on MineDispatch.

Mobile Line-Up Application, help to reduce the Change Shift time

Avoid Delays, Higher Production

Mobile Line-Up applications in conjunction with existing Time and Attendance system help PTDH to plan the manpower even before the shift start, eliminate the possibility of truck has to wait until operator ready. The system will assign the spare operator automatically when the assigned operator not come to work. Faster change shift time means more time for trucks to transport the materials which also means higher production. Below table shows the 59% reduction of Change shift time lead to 7% – 10% increase of Utilization Availability (UA).

Reduction on Change Shift time, increase production and productivity

Higher Production, more profit

With the “small increase” of UA, giving a tremendous production increase to 57%. Many mines not realize how much production gain they can achieve by just reduce the shift change time.

MineView Mining Fleet Management – Reporting System

Having accurate, timely and comprehensive data is vital to any mining operation. However, the ability to access and interpret the data is needed for effective decision making. The MineView Reporting System uses the world standard MSSQL database that allows for easy access to the data for custom data analysis and reporting requirements.

The MineView Fleet Management interface uses SharePoints and SQL Reporting Server (SSRS) making it quite simple for someone with even the most basic reporting experience to do report customizations and create functional KPI Dashboards. The reports are able to be exported to CSV and PDF formats and can be set to be emailed to site Managers or different departments at pre-determined times.

During the project implementation stage SNCTechnologies will review the customer reporting requirements so the customer has the flexibility to determine what reports that will be needed. A SNCTechnologies database analyst will sit with the customer and gather all the requirements and pull together a Customer Requirement document for the reporting system.

The figure below is a customized real-time KPI dashboard developed for a customer.

Additional customized reports are available upon request.

Shift Absence
Shift Loads
Shift Dumps
Shift Logins
Shift Activities
Shift Engine Hour
Shift Overspeed
Shift Event Logs
Shift Messages
Shift Prestart Check
Summary Report
Production Summary
Loader Hourly Production
Truck Hourly Production
Production Summary
Equipment Status
Shovel Cycle Time
Truck Cycle Time
Truck Average Speed
Fleet Haul and Travel Distance
Equipment Status History
Summary Operations Cost
Operator Performance by Activities and Loads
Equipment Availability and Utilization

Mining Fleet Management Onboard Hardware

SNC All-In-One Vehicle Computer with Touch Screen and Multifunctional Tracker

SNC is a new generation 7or 8-inch on-board computer, specifically designed for transportation applications that require real-time vehicle tracking. Featuring the latest low power consumption processor, it integrates a WVGA LCD with a brightness of 400 nits and a 4-wire resistive touch sensor.

The SNC on-board computer maintains a balance between compact design and functional features. It offers dual CANbus, RS-232, RS-485, USB 3.0, GPIO, analogue input, PWM, and LAN signal. For security, SNC supports real-time vehicle tracking through GPS and SMS/GSM/GPRS. It can also be upgraded to different LCD resolutions and includes additional features such as LTE, projected capacitive touch, CANbus protocol support, and a backup battery.

SNC VMC All-In-One Vehicle Computer with Touch Screen and Multifunctional Tracker Specifications

General	Cooling System: Fanless Enclosure: Plastic PC + ABS with aluminum die casting heatsink Mounting: Support VESA 75, stand mounting Four SMA Type antenna connectors of BT/Wi-Fi/WWAN/GPS Power Input: 9 ~ 36VDC input with Ignition Power Consumption: 26W Ingress Protection: Front panel IP54 Dimension: 213mm (W) x 145mm (H) x 50mm (D)(8.3″ x 5.7″ x 1.9″) Weight: TBD
LCD Panel	7-inch TFT LCD Panel with LED Backlight 800 x 480 pixels (WVGA) Brightness: 400 cd/m² (typical) Contrast ratio: 600:1 (typical)
Touchscreen Sensor	4-wire resistant touch Anti-glare coating surface Transmission rate: 78 ± 3%
CPU And Chipset	Intel® Atom™ Dual Core E3825 1.33GHz
Memory	One 204-pin DDR3L 1600MHz SO-DIMM slot (up to 4GB)– Default 2GB
Expandable Storage	1 x SATAIII SATA DOM Slot (available option 16G and 32G)
Expansion	1 x Half mini-PCIe socket (PCIe + USB) for WLAN option 1 x mini-PCIe socket ((USB + UART) for WWAN option) 1 x External module for OBD/Battery module option(UART + USB)
I/O Interface-Front	F1 ~ F5 functions key Light Sensor Internal Mic-in 2 x Built-in 2W speakers 3 x LED indicators (Power mode, Storage and WWAN status)
I/O Interface-Lateral	Right side – 1 x Micro SD card socket – 1 x SIM card socket – 1 x USB 3.0 host type A connector – 1 x Mic-in, Line-out Left side – 1 x Power button – 1 x System reset button – Volume up/down or Brightness up/down
I/O Interface-Rear	1 x 5-pin Circular connector for Power/Ignition input 1 x RJ45 for LAN 1 x RJ45 for Full RS-232 with 0V/5V/12V power supply (0.5A) 1 x DB9 (Male) for – RX/TX or RS-485 – 2 x CAN Bus 2.0 1 x DB15 (Female) for – GPS dead reckoning interface (optional) – 2 x PWM, 2 x Analog Input, 3 x GPO, 3 x GPI Analog Input requirement for Voltages are measured Channel: 8 Voltage range: 0 ~ 38V Resolution: 8 bit Analog Input requirement for Frequency, Speed Square wave Frequency signal offset voltage range: 0 ~ 15VDC Protection: +/- 500V spike Frequency signal duty cycle range: 10% ~ 90%
Communication Module	1 x On board GPS module 1 x WLAN or Bluetooth module for optional 1 x WWAN module for optional
Power Management	Selectable boot-up & shut-down voltage for low power protection HW design ready for 8-level delay time on/off at user’s self configuration Power on/off ignition, software detectable Support S3 and S4 suspend mode; wake on RTC and SMS
Operating System	Operating temperatures: Ambient with air -20°C to 60°C Storage temperatures: -30°C to 80°C Relative humidity: 10% to 95% (non-condensing) Vibration (random): 3g @5 ~ 500Hz Vibration – Operating: MIL-STD-810G, 514.6 Procedure 1, Category 4 – Storage: MIL-STD-810G, 514.6 Procedure 1, Category 24 Shock – Operating: MIL-STD-810G, Method 516.6, Procedure I, trucks and semi-trailers=20g – Crash hazard: MIL-STD-810G, Method 516.6, Procedure V, ground equipment=75g
Power Design & Protection	Load dump and inductive load protection Cold cranking protection Transient voltage protection Electrostatic discharge protection
Standards/Certifications	EMC – CE, FCC class B Power – SAE J1113 – SAE J1455 – ISO 7637-2 Safety – EN 60950-1 LVD

MineLink Mining Fleet Management is Best in Class

Experience

MineLink has been designed by SNCTechnologies’ dedicated team of hardware and software engineers with many years of on-the-job experience in the mining industry and specific expertise in fleet management systems.

Onboard Equipment Designed and Built Tough for Mining

The MineLink onboard units have been designed and built tough for rugged mining conditions. They include an industrial grade Mobile Data LCD Touch Screen Terminal which has been fitted out with the very latest and smartest processor to exceed the intensive onboard data processing requirements. SNCTechnologies has proactively partnered with an international industrial grade hardware manufacturer to ensure that we have the very best-in-class onboard hardware. With over a million of these devices operating throughout the world, these units have had years of in-field experience.

State of the Art Communications

MineLink works with SNCTechnologies’ MineComm communications system to deliver the highest bandwidth capacity while at the same time ensuring efficient frequency channel usage and smooth vehicle travel with high speed data roaming and handover between communication access points across the entire mine site network.

Latest Advanced Database Technology

MineLink utilizes state of the art database technology for both the server and mobile devices. It is the most reliable database synchronization framework and was designed specifically for mobile devices travelling at high speeds with very high mobility flexibility, low bandwidth power requirements while holding a consistent connection to the server. It uses SQL databases for easy custom report writing.

Continuous Development and Improvements

SNCTechnologies keeps up-to-date with the world’s continuously changing mining technologies. With non-stop product development, the improvements are continuously adding more feature-rich modules such as proximity detection, fatigue detection, shovel to truck peer-to-peer communications, harsh brake/acceleration detection, prohibited zones and much more. The MineLink roadmap is a continuous development cycle. As new features are developed, trialed and tested, they will be automatically updated to the current installed site systems seamlessly. This means your MineLink system is never out-of-date.

Mining Fleet Management Overview

One of the main objectives of MineLink is to reduce costs while optimizing operating efficiencies. Our Fuel Monitoring feature allows up-to-date reporting on fuel consumption and usage, ensuring fuel levels are managed adequately and production is maximized for your fleet.

Fuel Level Features

Users can see the fuel level status of the unit via minemap by highlighting the unit icon, which will display fuel level information on tool tip info.

Equipment Fuel Level Features

Realtime update fuel level on truck properties.
Users can view real-time fuel level status from each equipment. This fuel level data is generated in real time sourced from OEM system data.

Graphic Sensor OEM System

MineLink provides a sensor data graph feature to draw the sensor values change in real time and historical data. There are options to display historical, live, and top data.

The following is an example of top data on the Engine Coolant Temperature sensor:

MineLink has generated sensor data from the OEM unit so that the data is processed to be visualised in the form of history graphs and real-time sensor data. Users can determine which units and sensors will be displayed in the graph. In the following example, there is a comparison of fuel level data with engine speed.

Average Fuel Consumption By Road Segment

MineLink calculates the average fuel rate for each road segment. This value is the average fuel consumption of all units passing through that location; fuel consumption is based on data from OEM sensors.

Road Elevation History vs Average Fuel Rate

MineLink displays historical elevation data which can be compared with the average fuel rate on each road segment. Elevation values are grouped into several categories based on the range of elevation values and colour codes that can be configured.

The following data shows that the fuel rate in areas with elevation changes shows greater fuel use compared to areas where changes in elevation are not too significant.

In this area, fuel consumption is smaller compared to fuel consumption on the way out of the loading area segment because the elevation change is not very significant.

Refueling Plan

MineLink provides a feature to present information on whether the truck will require a refuelling process or not. The dispatcher can determine the threshold limit of the fuel level as an indication that the truck must refuel. If the truck’s fuel capacity is less than the minimum threshold value, then the truck is deemed to need refueling.

Report Fuel Consumption By Material Movement

MineLink produces a Fuel Expenses by Material Movement report, which displays the fuel usage capacity for each trip, including empty and loaded states. This report also displays the total cost incurred by each piece of equipment during fuel consumption. The amount of fuel used is converted to the currency value spent by the customer.