Atlas Copco Infrastructureless Guidance System for High-Speed Autonomous Underground Tramming

During the last decade, mining companies and mobile equipment manufacturers have pursued improved efficiency, productivity, and safety in underground mining operations by automating some of the functions of underground vehicles. This paper describes the implementation and successful field testing of a new infrastructureless guidance system for autonomous tramming of centre-articulated underground mining vehicles (e.g., load-haul-dump and mine trucks). The project described in this paper is the result of a technical partnership between MDA, an experienced mining high-tech provider, and Atlas Copco, a world leader in the design of underground mining equipment.