Proximity detection for draglines Sees the person. Slows the dragline.

A system that finds people and vehicles near a dragline and responds before the machine can reach them. A dragline operator sees ahead and to the right, but the machine swings through 360 degrees, so the ground behind it and on its left is out of sight. Proximity detection watches that ground for them.

PAS, the Proximity Awareness System, is Bigmate’s proximity detection and intervention system for heavy mining equipment. It finds and classifies people and vehicles with LiDAR and cameras, and acts through the machine’s own drive: it slows the machine as someone closes and brings it to a controlled stop. It is in service on draglines, and was the first proximity system integrated with a dragline’s drives and detecting cable strike.

No. PAS is in service on draglines, which is why this page shows one, but the same system does the same job on other heavy machinery: MMUs, haul trucks, excavators and other mobile plant. The sensors are placed to suit each machine, and the detection, tracking and response work the same way. PAS has already been trialled on excavators, and Bigmate’s MMU Personnel & Vehicle Detection System is built on the same perception.

Any electric walking dragline. PAS works through the dragline’s existing drive rather than replacing it, so it isn’t tied to one make or model, and the sensors are placed to suit each machine.

LiDAR covers every side of the machine, from the machine itself out past 50 metres, and cameras cover 5 to 50 metres, through dust, rain and darkness. Deep learning models on a computer on the machine classify each return as a person, a light vehicle, a dozer, a cable tractor or the trailing cable. On a dragline, several LiDAR units and five cameras are placed around the house so their coverage overlaps.

Each detection is tracked from scan to scan, and has to be classified and confirmed over several scans before it can reach the drive. One sensor can confirm a detection; when more sensors agree, it is confirmed faster. Tracking also means a person who drops out of one sensor’s view for a moment isn’t lost, and one person isn’t counted twice.

An inertial sensor on the machine measures its heading as it swings, so every detection is placed relative to the machine as it rotates. Distance is measured from the edge of the machine, not from a point at its centre, so the zones follow the machine’s real footprint.

It acts. With the standard settings for people, PAS tracks a person from 50 metres, slows the slew in proportion from 15 metres and brings the machine to a controlled stop inside 5 metres. The stop is a Category 1 controlled stop: the drive brings the machine to rest under control before power is removed. If the controlled stop fails, a mechanical emergency stop follows.

Yes. The trailing cable that powers the dragline runs out of the rear of the machine, behind the operator, where they can’t see it. PAS classifies the trailing cable alongside people and vehicles, and brings the dragline to a controlled stop when a shoe is about to reach it. PAS was the first proximity system integrated with a dragline’s drives and detecting cable strike.

Yes. By Bigmate’s own assessment, PAS covers levels 7, 8 and 9 of the EMESRT (Earth Moving Equipment Safety Round Table) vehicle interaction controls: operator awareness through the cab screen (level 7), advisory alerts to the operator (level 8), and intervention (level 9), where PAS slows and stops the machine through its own drive.

Yes. Every part of the response is set with Bigmate’s engineers at commissioning, per site and per machine: the distance bands, the action each band triggers and the shape of the slowdown, from a fixed reduction to a linear or exponential curve. People and vehicles have separate rules, and the rules can change with what the machine is doing, such as digging or walking.

No. PAS writes a speed reference to the existing drive through the machine’s safety PLC, over CIP Safety on EtherNet/IP, so the response is the machine’s own. OEM braking and control architecture are untouched.

PAS is installed during a planned shutdown, so fitting it costs no extra production time. The sensor positions and the connection to the drive are planned for each machine beforehand, and the response is set with Bigmate’s engineers at commissioning.

Every camera and LiDAR unit reports its health continuously, and the cab screen shows any unit that drops out, so a gap in coverage is visible rather than silent. PAS also sends the machine’s safety PLC a health signal and a heartbeat, so a fault in PAS is seen by the machine’s own safety system.

In live operation, 99.99986% of 2,689,870 analysed minutes had no missed, late or wrong intervention from PAS, and the count keeps growing as PAS runs.

No. Detection, tracking and the signal to the machine all run on a computer on the machine itself, so protection doesn’t depend on a site network or an internet link. Event recordings upload when a connection is available.

Yes. Each event is saved with a recording of the cab screen from before and after it, camera images, the LiDAR data and the machine’s state at the time, so every intervention can be reviewed afterwards.

The same detections that reach the drive: five live camera views, each alert in full with the object, distance, risk, validation and action taken, the tracked objects placed on the zones in plan, and the health of every camera and LiDAR unit.

No. PAS detects people with sensors on the machine, so there is no tag to carry or forget. Protection comes from the machine, not the person.

Yes. PAS won the Pirtek Safety Initiative Award at the 2024 Queensland Mining Awards.