Development of an Embedded System for Realtime Monitoring of Mining Processes

Abstract

In an opencast mine the raw materials are carried out by using the dumpers. So these dumpers need to be monitored right from their loading point to their destination point. The commercially available vehicle tracking systems use GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications)/GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) network for the communication. But in the opencast mines there may be a problem of accessing the standard GSM network. So the previously available tracking systems cannot provide uninterrupted service. The tracking system designed here tracks and monitors the vehicles moving inside the opencast mines without any interruption. It is using the GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver (for getting the location and time information about the vehicles), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications)/GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) network (For long range data communication) and Zigbee module (For short range data communication). The GSM module is sending the data to the internet and this data is then given to a GIS (Graphical Information System). The Graphical Information System will display the vehicle location inside the mine. The Zigbee module will be used for data transmission when GSM signal is not available. A switchover module will be placed at a location in the mine where GSM signal is available. The switchover module will receive the data sent by the Zigbee and give it to GSM module. Because of the use of short range communication device (Zigbee), this system can track the vehicles even at the positions where GSM Network is not available