Underground Zone Passage Control for Autonomous Vehicle Access
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing zone passage control systems in underground worksites face challenges in efficiently managing access and operation of autonomously operating mobile vehicles across different zones, particularly in ensuring safe and uninterrupted operation while allowing access for personnel and other vehicles.
Innovation Solution
The system integrates a passage control unit that receives position information of autonomously operating vehicles, detects external objects, checks vehicle positions, prevents control commands to stop vehicles when necessary, and demerges zones to maintain operational efficiency and safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If zones are merged to improve operational efficiency and allow access for personnel and outside vehicles, then access flexibility and productivity are improved, but safety control and collision risk management become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the merged zone into multiple sub-zones (first zone and second zone) with different access control levels. The first zone maintains strict access control for automated mobile vehicles only, while the second zone allows access for personnel and outside vehicles. This segmentation allows the system to maintain safety controls in critical areas while enabling operational flexibility in other areas, thus resolving the contradiction between productivity and control complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The passage control system dynamically adjusts zone configurations by merging zones when operational efficiency is prioritized and demerging zones when safety control is needed. The system can transition between merged and demerged states based on real-time operational requirements, allowing flexible adaptation between productivity and safety control modes.
2Reliability
If passage control units enforce strict access control to ensure safety of autonomously operating vehicles, then collision risk is reduced, but operational flexibility and access efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Different access control policies are applied to different local areas within the merged zone. The first zone implements strict access control with passage control units that prevent entry by unauthorized objects, ensuring safety for autonomously operating vehicles. The second zone implements more permissive access control that allows personnel and outside vehicles to enter freely. This local differentiation of control quality resolves the contradiction between safety and operational flexibility.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for zone passage control in an underground worksite having a plurality of operation zones for autonomously operating mobile vehicle operations includes the steps of receiving position information of at least one autonomously operating mobile vehicle in a fusion zone merged of at least a first zone and a second zone associated with a first passage control unit, and in response to detecting a mobile object by a second passage control unit associated with the first zone, performing: checking position of the at least one autonomously operating mobile vehicle, in response to an autonomously operating mobile vehicle being positioned in the second zone, preventing a control command to stop the autonomously operating mobile vehicle in the second zone, and demerging the first zone and the second zone.