Navigation and Control of Continuous Mining Systems

Research conducted at the Pittsburgh Research Center (formerly U.S. Bureau of Mines) developed technology that will allow computer-assisted operation of mechanized equipment normally used in underground room-and-pillar coal mining, while permitting workers to be located away from the hazardous coal extraction area (the face). Advanced navigation and control technologies developed for underground room-and-pillar and highwall coal mining can be applied to commercially available mining equipment. The technology being developed uses off-the-shelf components, minimizing the effort required to adapt it to mining equipment. Because the new developments are completely modular, only the modules required in a particular application need be used on the system.