SatNetCom has announced that it is promoting, selling, installing, and servicing the collision avoidance system (CAS) from SAFEmine to enhance traffic safety in surface mines and minimize economical risk due to shutdown time.

The rapid growth of the mining sector in Indonesia is urging the need for improvement of safety measures for vehicle operators, mines and mining contractors, to keep the operators safe and minimize shutdown time. Last year’s three week shut down of a Kalimantan mine due to fatalities is an example of human tragedy and operational and economical disaster.

The SAFEmine system is an advanced collision avoidance system, supporting vehicle divers (dumpers, trucks, excavators, shovels, light vehicles, etc.). Based on real-time information including actual location, speed and direction, the SAFEmine system alerts the operator about the direction of surrounding traffic and of the likelihood of a collision using a combination of light, sound, and (optionally) voice warnings.

Unlike conventional proximity awareness systems, some of which only tell an operator that an object is near, the SAFEmine system informs the operator about a potential collision only if required based on actual trajectories, thus triggering an alert only if the situation calls for it.

Furthermore, the SAFEmine system is sensitive to the actual speed of the operator’s and the surrounding vehicles and uses this information to trigger an alarm at appropriate intervals and sufficiently in advance to allow evasive action.

The SAFEmine system is smart enough to recognize if a collision is not imminent, even when the vehicles are in close proximity – like passing on a road. This and other methods minimize annoying false alarms, and instead offer an effective support in traffic awareness and collision avoidance. The SAFEmine system has an extended set of configuration possibilities and options, such as for example geofencing, to suit the need of any open-pit mine.

The SAFEmine system is currently protecting more than 10,000 vehicles in mines around the world.