Underground » Mining Technology and Production
This project report consists of two separate reports, one prepared by A Triple R and one prepared by the CSIRO Division of Exploration & Mining. The CSIRO report provides a technical description of the equipment, techniques and procedures utilised in the project while the A Triple R report has concentrated on outlining the initial concepts / intentions that converged to form the project and describes the logistics of the project. The intention is to provide ACARP and the Coal Industry with a report that clearly and accurately displays the whole of the project so that future work can build on this foundation research.
Overall Outcome of the ProjectThe project successfully demonstrated that it is possible to integrate digital imaging with spatial co-ordinates to create a 3D model, a type of ?Digital Terrain Model? (DTM), of the roof and rib of underground roadways. The model can be viewed to determine the location and condition of installed services and ground support and can be interrogated to provide dimensional details.
The majority of effort expanded in this project was in the development of:
- Equipment to acquire the spatial and visual data
- And software to:
- Manage / integrate the individual items of technology to collect the data, and
- Process the data to form an image that was useable.
The CSIRO report details the technical aspects and outcomes of the project.
Although the Project did not accomplish all the objectives fully it has demonstrated that it is possible to capture digital images and integrate these with spatial co-ordinates that enable a true 3D image of the underground excavation to be constructed. The objective of demonstrating that data can be acquired and processed rapidly so that mine management can utilise the information in numerous ways was only partially achieved, however improvements in instrumentation and camera technology will mean that this objective is achievable in the near future.
CSIRO has produced video demonstrations of the results. These are provided on the CD.
A Triple R believes that this initial research work will come to fruition with the development of suitable data acquisition systems and with further work on data management systems. The technology components required to develop an operational system are being developed by a number of organisations. A Triple R will not be actively seeking funding for any extension of this project due to the highly complex and technical nature of the work required, however it is understood that CSIRO is continuing research in this and other related fields. A Triple R intends to maintain contact with CSIRO in their continued research in this area, and will be able to provide support particularly where fieldwork is required.