skip to Main Content

Open Pit Mining Operations

Mining Equipment GPS Tracking and Asset Management

Raveon Technologies’ RavTrack GPS tracking system has been used in open-pit mines for many years. In 2014 Raveon added a Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) to the product line, and added many features to their RavTrack PC Windows application to make the system ideal for managing mining operations. With the release of RavTrack 6.5, Raveon has created a powerful GPS tracking system for mining operations control.

  • Real-time viewing of vehicle status on a control computer
  • Text messaging
  • Show events by vehicle and driver
  • ID and operator time logging in vehigles, at gates, or anywhere in the mine
  • 99 event codes allow drivers to report every important event and be automatically stored in a database
  • Comprehensive built-in reports
  • Mine operators can create custom reports by vehicle, driver, event, time, day, or alert
  • View a vehicle’s alert and activity history in real-time
  • Alert duration warnings for excessive activites
  • Replay historical vehicle movement on the map
  • Track and asses activity using rule counters that record the number of events and alerts by vehicle

Mobile Data

mdt Front

WayWORD MDT (shown here), is a helpful tool for text messaging, driver identification, status reporting, and event reporting.

The WayWORD connects to a Raveon GPS transponder using its built-in RS232 serial port. Used inside vehicles in a mine, it makes monitoring, recording, and locating all vehicle very easy. It is small, but has many excellent features to help a mine operator.

  1. 4-line text display for mine operators to send text messages to a vehicle.
  2. Easy and safe for the driver to respond to a text message.
  3. 8 real-time status buttons with LED indicators
  4. Up to 99 event codes can be entered to granularily record vehicle events
  5. RFID tag reader to identify the driver or person in the vehicle
  6. Mount at gates or employee meeting places to record who is present
  7. Integrated RavTrack PC for recording, displaying, mapping, alerting, and viewing

Whenever a GPS transponder reports its location and status, it also reports the status of the 8 status button on the MDT. Its RFID tag reader transmits the ID of RFID tags that are held next to its right side, allowing a system operator to identify the tag and the person scanning the RFID tag.

Fatigue Monitoring

When a Raveon GPS transponder is connected to a eye fatigue camera, or the WayWORD MDT is connected to a fatigue camera, mine operators can be notified if vehicle drivers become fatigued. The notifications can also be logged into a database for later review, and they can be counted so that when more than a certain number of fatigue events occur, an alert can be generatred.

Activity Reports

RavTrack PC has many built-in activity reports that can pull the data from the activity log or from the live vehicle status database. The historical reports can print many helpful reports such as:

  • Current stataus, speed, name, driver, location
  • Current alerts, status, or rules being violated
  • Historical list of alerts, events or rules based on day, time, geo-location, speed, and proximity
  • Daily, weekly, and monthly usage reports
  • LIst of RFID scans showing date, time, and vehicle

With RavTrack 6.5 and higher, there is a built-in “RF ID Tag Read” report to summarize the RF ID tags that were scanned. Tag reads are stored in the activity LOG table as an entry type “IDTAG” so this report retrieves them from the Log table based on the selection criteria the user chooses (vehicle, date, day, …) and displays a report.

Also new in RavTrack PC 6.5 is a user-selectable report template. All reports in RavTrack PC use Crystal Reports from SAP to generate the report, and each type of report uses its own built-in template. The templates are stored in the C:\Raveon\RavTrack PC\Reports\ folder. People familiar with Crystal Report editing can create their own custom report templates and store them in the C:\Raveon\RavTrack PC\Reports\ folder. RavTrack PC will automatically add them to the list of available templates to use for printing reports if the file name of the custom template is the same as the standard template with some additional characters.

To learn more about how the RavTrack system is organized, view the mining asset tracking infographic. We also offer an informative webinar to answer questions about the technology.

Back To Top