Increase Mining Productivity with MineLink
MineLink 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 FMS has been designed and developed based on SNCTechnologies more than 14 years of experience in the design, implementation, support, and maintenance of mining FMS’s. MineLink easily scales from small to large mines with multiple pits and dumping areas. MineLink is rugged, built specifically to operate in the harsh mining environments. MineLink is designed to be user friendly, and is highly configurable on the fly.
Benefits of MineLink
MineLink is the FMS 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 the other equipment around the mine that is installed with MineLink or MineTrack.
Dispatch Control Center
The operational heart of a MineLink 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 the 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 with MineLink FMS.
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 customised on request
MineLinkMobile – Onboard Interactive Touchscreen
A rugged MineLinkMobile LCD touch screen is installed in the cab of on-site mining equipment. The MineLinkMobile screen displays the real-time information such as cycles, assignments, mine map, KPIs, etc. The onboard mine map provides the operator with awareness of other vehicles that are operating near them, which road/route that they must take and where their assigned shovel or dump is located. The onboard features will also improve the safety 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 to 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 operator is really doing a prestart check.
The button color 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 – 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 anytime across the entire mine site in real-time.
MineDispatch provides important information and visualization such as machine position, machine status, machine activity, detailed operator information and accurate measurements of loads, volumes and dumps.
MineDispatch 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 Tpe of Equipment – Enable & Disable Features
Prestart Notification Message when an equipment operator reports problems
MineView – 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 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 the 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
Below is an Example of a Standard Prestart Check Report
Both of these units were chosen not only based on their unique ruggedness and very high and communications capabilities, but also for their state of the art new generation capabilities and features. To ensure the MineLinkMobile software delivers its best performance, SNCTechnologies though a careful selection process and on-site testing chose two difference on-board LCD computer hardware units.
Onboard Hardware
SNC VMC All-In-One Vehicle Computer with Touch Screen and Multifunctional Tracker
SNC VMC, a new generation 7-inch vehicle mount computer with dual core Intel® Atom™ processor, is designed for transportation applications requiring real-time vehicle tracking. Adopting the latest low power consumption processor and integrating a WVGA LCD with a brightness of 400nits and a 4-wire resistive touch sensor, SNC VMC does not compromise with its space to sacrifice its functional features. It provides dual CANbus, RS-232, RS-485, USB 3.0, GPIO, analog input, PWM and LAN signal. For security, SNC VMC supports real-time vehicle tracking through GPS and SMS/GSM/GPRS. SNC VMC can also be upgraded to a different LCD resolution and include other features such as LTE, projected capacitive touch, CANbus protocol support and 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 | Windows 8 Professional, WES8 Windows 7, WES7 Linux Fedora (kernel V3.2.0) |
| Environment | 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 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 Intel Atom 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 ion 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 worlds 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 road map 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.
Overview
One of the main objectives of MineLink is to reduce costs, while optimising 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 maximised for your fleet.
Equipment Fuel Level Features
Realtime update fuel level on truck properties. User can view realtime fuel level status from each equipment, This fuel level data is generated in real time sourced from OEM system data
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.
Graphic Sensore OEM System
MineLink provides a sensor data graph feature to draw the sensor values change in real time and history 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 visualized 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 OEM sensor.
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 color 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.
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 refueling 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 will display the fuel usage capacity for each trip including empty and loaded state, this report also display the total cost using by each equipment during to the fuel consumtion. The amount of fuel used is converted to the currency value spent by the customer.
