Last week in Part I of our series on Real Time Locating Systems, we discussed safety and demonstrated that GroundHog’s RTLS offers far more to keep your people safe than its competitors like Newtrax or MST.
Today our Mine Digitization and Automation series continues its look at RTLS by offering another plain truth – You don’t have to choose between safety and production. We all know a smoothly running plan with minimal variation is the safest way to work – when people aren’t looking for workarounds or trying to get caught up, they have better focus and a more positive attitude. And nothing brings on a positive attitude like knowing your crew is having a good, productive shift.
How can GroundHog help achieve this?
GroundHog can help achieve a smooth and productive shift while prioritizing safety. Real-Time data enables effective communication, reduces downtime, enhances efficiency, and ensures optimal resource allocation. By providing accurate location updates and actionable insights in real-time, GroundHog empowers your crew with the information they need to make informed decisions quickly. Additionally, with Real-time Location System (RTLS), we offer advanced features beyond what our competitors, like Newtrax or MST, can provide.
The Unique Benefits and Features of GroundHog that Set it Apart from Newtrax, and MST
Location awareness is critical for any features, such as collision avoidance and traffic management. And to get location awareness underground is a herculean task. Many technology options are available, some are expensive, and some are complex.
GroundHog’s solution offers simple BLE beacons to collect location data. The benefits of using BLE over other technologies are:
- BLE can easily communicate with everyday devices such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets.
- Bluetooth enables real-time asset tracking — not just when a tagged asset goes by a reader.
- BLE beacons have a shorter range than RFID but offer a higher level of accuracy, making them ideal for underground location tracking that requires precise location information for proximity detection.
- Other advantages of BLE are low cost and low power consumption.
While Newtrax excels in collision avoidance, it uses time-of-flight-based sensors, which are expensive and complex to install and use. Also, Newtrax does not provide the ability to view equipment location and status directly from the control room or view playback trips, which could be crucial for monitoring compliance with planned routes and ensuring personnel do not enter restricted areas.
MST’s effectiveness often comes at a high cost due to the reliance on expensive technologies like Wi-fi triangulation or RFID. However, there is a more affordable alternative that offers excellent performance. You can achieve accurate asset tracking without breaking the bank by leveraging a combination of beacons and sensors. This solution is budget-friendly and boasts an IP68 rating for durability and reliability. Additionally, with the ability to set up a mesh network, you can ensure coverage over large areas for comprehensive asset monitoring.
When we say “purpose-built for the underground environment,” we know from experience that the underground is a different beast. For one thing, it can be much harder to see what’s coming in your direction, and as you know, you can’t just turn around and go the other way.
GroundHog offers a traffic management solution designed to optimize underground operations. The system enables the prioritization of loaded vehicles and emergency vehicles, ensuring smooth and efficient traffic flow. Moreover, it allows for easy prioritization and timely alerts to approaching vehicles or personnel, enhancing safety and productivity in underground environments. GroundHog is the only provider that can effectively handle underground traffic control today.
Other differentiators compared to Newtrax, or MST, are:
- Unified Platform – Our suite of products allows digitizing every function in the mine, from production to maintenance to safety.
- Advanced Analytics and Reporting: Our comprehensive analytics tools provide deep insights into your business performance.
- User-Friendly Interface: Our simple and seamless user interface makes navigation and usage intuitive for all miners.
- Customizable Solutions: We tailor GroundHog to fit your business requirements with flexible customization options.
- Dedicated Customer Support: We are there anytime you call! Benefit from prompt and reliable customer support to address any issues or queries.
You Cannot Fix What You Cannot Find…and GroundHog’s Competition, Including Newtrax, Leaves You Blind
Keeping your equipment running is essential to operations, but you cannot fix what you cannot find, and we’ve all heard stories about equipment being left in the strangest places. Why waste time trying to find them or chasing down the people who can?
GroundHog’s RTLS improves maintenance efficiency by tracking downs and delays on your 3D map and can be integrated with your maintenance team’s platform to ensure seamless communication of equipment location and status, as well as providing locations for equipment under planned maintenance.
If you think about it, you’re getting a two-for-one deal – operators will experience less standby looking for equipment to start their shift, and maintenance ensures they’re good to go immediately. MST or Newtrax can’t say that.
(And bringing it back to safety, you’ll also avoid unfortunate situations like one major mining company experienced when, somehow, a critical piece of equipment was left adjacent to a drift that was being blasted and WASN’T DETECTED before they took the shot. There was extensive damage. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, but we’re not sure what happened to the operator who left the machine there and just walked away! With GroundHog’s RTLS, there’s no need for such a critical near-miss incident to happen.)
We’ll discuss more on our hardware and installation next week in Part III of our RTLS series as our Mine Digitization and Automation series continues.
To know more about Newtrax – https://newtrax.com/
To know more about real time location tracking-https://groundhogapps.com/rtls-real-time-location-tracking-for-underground/
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