Interoperability for autonomous machines and vehicles in mining

Purpose and goal

The purpose of the project is to contribute to the development of autonomous transport systems for increased cooperation and interaction between autonomous vehicles and machines from different brands and between several areas of operation and systems in the transport process within the mining industry. The project´s goal is to create new knowledge about overall architectural principles to enable the integration of the interoperable autonomous transport solutions of the future.

Expected effects and result

• To survey the industry´s need for interoperability for autonomous machines in a mining environment and how current solutions and initiatives address the need. • Provide increased knowledge of the entire process and understanding of how autonomous systems and their digital infrastructure need to be developed and integrated into the mining industry´s activities and processes. • Create overall system-of-system architecture and interoperability principles for autonomous machines and vehicles.

Planned approach and implementation

The project intends to identify needs and develop system concepts by collecting relevant data from operations and carrying out a literature study. System-of-system (SoS) methodology will be used to identify and evaluate a system architecture to accelerate and expand the use and utility of autonomous machines in limited areas. The purpose of the architecture is to enable the necessary interoperability between cooperating autonomous and manual machines and vehicles from different manufacturers.