GPS events

The movement of equipment units on site can be tracked if Mobile is installed and configured to a GPS system. Tracking the progress of equipment can result in increased efficiency at the equipment unit and Operator levels, prevent mishaps on site (waste material being dumped onto ore dumps), improve safety and much more.

For the GPS events to be transmitted from the equipment unit and recorded in the database the following must be defined:

  1. The equipment unit must have Mobile and a GPS system installed.
  2. In the Reference Edit service a Configuration Items | Mobile Settings | GPSProfile token must be defined for the installed GPS system to be recognised by Mobile.

  3. In the Reference Edit service, a Configuration Item | Equipment | PositionManagerProfile token should be defined. This token defines which of the GPS transmissions will be actually saved as events in the database.

    If a PositionManagerProfile token is not defined, the default attribute values (see Define PositionManagerProfile token) for this token will be used.

    You many have a number of PositionManagerProfile tokens defined. For example, one for haul trucks and one for loaders. Haul trucks, which usually travel further and faster than loaders, may have a PositionManagerProfile definition that samples the transmissions every 15 seconds. Loaders, which usually travel shorter distances and are slower than trucks, may have a sampling frequency of 60 seconds.

  4. The PositionManagerProfile attribute of the Groups | Pitram | Equipment| Equipment tokens must be defined to make the association between the actual equipment unit and the profile appropriate for that unit.

On completion of these steps, the Control Room Operator on site will be able to view the saved GPS events displayed in the Events pane of Data Acquisition.

Deploy token and attribute

PositionManagerProfile occurs in Reference Edit in two formats.

  1. As a Token. The token is found under Configuration Items | Equipment.

  2. As an Attribute. The attribute is found under Pitram | Equipment.

The configuration hierarchy of PositionManagerProfile means that the token is defined first. This token is then applied as an attribute of an equipment unit token.

Do the following:

  1. Go to Deploy Reference Data on the navigator header.

  2. Search for PositionManager to find both the PositionManagerProfile token and the attribute.

  3. Make sure that both the PositionManagerProfile token (all attributes) and attribute are selected a.
  4. Click OK to save the changes.

Define PostionManagerProfile token

The PositionManagerProfile token has the following attributes:

Attribute Description
ShortTermStorePeriodMinutes

Defined in minutes.

Define the time (minutes) that the GPS transmissions will remain in the Mobile short term store (memory) before deletion.

Default = 5.0
SmoothingTimePeriodSeconds

Defined in seconds.

Define the transmission collection time (seconds) which will result in allthe transmissions being included in the smoothing computation of position, speed and direction.

Default = 10.0
MinDistanceToComputeBearing

Defined in metres.

Define the minimum distance (metres) that two smoothed points must be apart for them to be included in computing the bearing.

Default = 15.0
MinDistanceComputationThresh

Defined in metres.

Define the minimum distance that two points must be apart for them to be included in calculating the cumulative distance.

Default = 15.0
MinTimeBetweenLongTermPos

Defined in seconds.

If a subsequent transmission occurs and the time gap is less than this minimum, it will not be saved to the database.

Default = 0
MinDistanceBetweenLongTermPos

Defined in metres.

If a subsequent transmission occurs and the distance travelled by the unit is less than this minimum, it will not be saved to the database.

Default = 0
MaxTimeBetweenLongTermPos

Defined in minutes.

If a subsequent transmission occurs and the transmission:

  • Meets the requirements of the two proceeding attributes.
  • Time gap exceeds this maximum.

The transmission will not be saved to the database.

Default = 3
LongTermStoreMaxEventAge

Defined in minutes.

Define the maximum time interval that an equipment unit can remain stationary after which further transmissions will be ignored.

Define as 0 (zero) if you want save all transmissions as defined by the preceding attributes.

Default = 150.0

When defining the PositionManagerProfile attribute for an equipment unit, the Description enter when defining the PositionManagerProfile token will be available for selection. You may need to have more than one PositionManagerProfile token defined to accommodate differences in equipment units and their GPS sampling needs.

In Data Acquisition, GPS events are displayed as they happen, in the Events pane.