Application of Dual Frequency RFID System in South Africa’s Mining Industry
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Among the many factors restricting the development and application of RFID, the limitations of RFID technology itself are also one of the main factors. The limitations of RFID technology itself are manifested in aspects such as the low recognition rate due to the discriminability of RFID frequency characteristics for identifying objects. For the RFID system, the low-frequency system has good penetration into water, flesh and other conductive media, but the speed, distance, and anti-conflict are poor, while the high-frequency system is just the opposite. How to make full use of the characteristics of various frequencies to maximize strengths and avoid weaknesses, the world’s leading RFID chip design company iPico Identification creatively integrates low-frequency and high-frequency characteristics on the same chip, so that this dual-frequency system has low-frequency capabilities at the same time. Penetration and high frequency, good distance, speed, and anti-collision. This integrated dual-frequency system can be widely used in FFPT (Accessible People Tracking), high-humidity identification, animal identification, sports timing, etc. It has advantages that other systems do not have. This article introduces the application of dual-frequency in the mining industry. This application is a good example for the mining industry where major safety accidents frequently occur in my country.
At Anglo American Platinum’s Paardekraal mine in South Africa, RFID is taking on the important task of saving money and saving lives. This article describes in detail the details of the application of RFID in the Paardekraal mine and the framework of the scheme, related to the current coal mine safety accidents that frequently occur in our country, and the RFID application case is of great significance to the solution of this social concern through technical means.
The South African Mining Department pointed out the important role of its RFID system implementation in the arduous mine operation environment. At the same time, Willard Batteries, a South African company that provides storage batteries and various management services for the mining industry, discovered the huge potential of RFID technology in the mining industry.
One of the largest electronics companies in South Africa—Allied Electronics branch, has expanded its business from merely being a supplier of battery products to shipping services. Some of the equipment of the mining company managed by the company, including battery-powered miner’s lamps, is installed on the miner’s helmet and used, and will continue to be damaged. By equipping the miner’s lamp with an RFID tag, Willard can track the use and maintenance of the miner’s lamp. The technology can also track users and their access to the mine.
Willard’s history of RFID adoption is somewhat similar to mining itself. Until recently, Willard’s contacts with mining companies were limited to the supply of batteries. However, about 5 years ago, Willard discovered a new business opportunity in the mining industry: providing equipment management. The South African mining company began to manage the use of its miner’s lamps, including the management of mining equipment storage sites, maintenance locations, and distribution. Those equipment include not only miner’s lamps, but also portable lighting equipment, fully equipped self-rescue kits, portable gas detection equipment and first aid equipment. According to Willard DC Power Management Manager Alan Waterston, the miner’s lamp room contains about 4,000 to 5,000 miner’s lamps and other equipment.
In order to realize the automated management of personnel and other projects, the company has developed its unique “Intellilamp” software in the past, which is used in conjunction with barcode technology to record the entry and exit of miners’ lamp rooms. Waterston said that in the traditional system of identifying employees in South African mines, each employee is assigned a unique ID identified by barcode data.
Waterston said, “The bar code combines the employee number and various other codes to allow or restrict access to a predetermined area.” “The detailed information contained in the bar code can be collected by the smart light system, and the bar code is the same as the one on the RFID label. The RFID tag is closely integrated with the miner’s lamp or other equipment. This process is part of the primary design of the database and is related to the distribution of the miner’s lamp in the system. Once completed, the rest is just a maintenance issue – Add new assignments when new employees arrive or remove previous assignments when employees leave.”
Applying the RFID system to the mine has proved to be a serious challenge. Willard’s managers have conducted research on both passive and active RFID technology, according to Waterston. Initially, the company tested 125 KHz low-frequency and 13.56 MHz high-frequency passive tags. Tailor-made labels for the (mining) cap lamp battery box, and install readers (transponders) in the equipment distribution room and near the turnstile at the exit from the miner’s lamp room to the shaft. The turnstile is also equipped with a barcode scanner to read the ID card of each miner to confirm whether it is allowed to pass.
However, the RFID system failed to meet the minimum reading distance of 600mm (2 feet) because there are three areas where miners must pass through turnstiles. Waterston explained that if the reading range of the system is less than 2 feet, reading errors may occur. The company has also conducted research on active tags. If active tags are used, the RFID system can have a greater reading distance when tracking items. However, compared with passive tags, the cost of active tags is too high. The plan is also not feasible.
Another option-900 MHz UHF passive tags and readers-cannot achieve high read rates due to RF interference caused by water and metal. All the tools used by the miners are artificially made of different materials. Because the lamp is made of plastic, it has no effect on the reading of the 900MHz UHF tag, and the tag of the cap lamp is easier to handle. The fully equipped self-rescue bag is surrounded by a stainless steel container, which interferes with the reading of 900MHz UHF tags. Gas detection equipment is also wrapped in stainless steel, which interferes with the working frequency of tags and readers.
Willard is constantly exploring on the road of RFID solutions, and has cooperated in this field with the integrator I-Chain and the RFID professional company iPico Holdings. The integrator I-Chain has cooperated with iPico to develop the application of RFID system in many aspects.
RFID system helps Willard and its mining clients follow the South African government
In October 2003, Willard began testing iPico’s new passive dual-frequency RFID tags and readers as part of Anglo American Platinum’s Paardekraal mine test plan in the Northwestern Province of South Africa, which lasts for four weeks. Dual-frequency RFID technology combines the advantages of low-frequency (125 kHz to 135 kHz) transmission and high-frequency (6.8 MHz) RFID high-speed data transmission capabilities. RFID readers transmit low-frequency signals to provide energy to tags, and tags use high-frequency spectrum to transmit signals to readers.
iPico’s dual-frequency RFID system can successfully read multiple tags, even when a large number of miners gather and the number of people going down the shaft is decreasing. The system can read an average of 7,200 tags per minute on a continuous basis, with a reading range of 0.6m to 2m. The company claims that the system can run through liquids and even certain metals, and its performance is better than 13.56 MHz and 860-960 MHz RFID systems.
The dual-frequency RFID system worked well in the test plan. In the spring of 2004, i-Chain deployed 18 dual-frequency readers and 5000 tags for Willard in a miner’s lamp room. Installation work includes setting up a local area network (LAN) to connect the reader. IPico helped Willard determine the configuration of the reader’s reader in the miner’s lamp room, so as to optimize the operation of the system.
According to Waterston, as expected, dual-frequency systems are widely used. “Achieving a high degree of accuracy” requires tracking the movement of miners in and out of the lamp room. “Essentially, the miner moves along a predetermined route equipped with a reader, so that the data of the miner and the cap lamp can be collected, because the cap lamp has passed these predetermined points.” He said, “as a Willard system As part of this, the reader is not installed below the ground, but if necessary, the installation work may be extended to some special work areas. The cost and benefit of these installations will be evaluated by the customer.” Willard is currently installing in two other locations RFID system, a total of 4000 miner’s lamps.
An appropriate management application software—designed by Willard in collaboration with a South African software developer—combined an RFID reader network with a mining enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The management application software obtains time and field data from the human resource module of the mining ERP system. Time and field data are integrated with the item release information of the miner’s lamp room, and the item release information of the miner’s lamp room is collected from the RFID reader. These integrated data were usually used to make bills for Willard’s services and management information about the use of miner’s lamp rooms and equipment in the past. Using the smart light system, Willard can give a list of all units to facilitate billing.
Since the first system was installed in the test, it is said that Willard’s reading success rate is 100%, and the system can track the movement of equipment and miners on a continuous basis. Two weeks before RFID was installed and commissioned in the Paardekraal mine, when the system sent an alert to the management staff that employees did not enter the miner’s lamp room on time, the value of the movement information of the people in the mine obtained by Willard could not be measured.
Let’s take a look at a real scene of the smart light system: according to the collection of the movement information of the tag unit, it is found that a miner’s lamp has not been returned through the predetermined point. This information, together with the actual verification of the miner’s lamp room, confirms that the miner has not yet returned. A group of personnel sent into the mine, and they found the miner at a blasting site scheduled not long ago.
According to Waterston, the main benefit of the Willard smart light system, which uses RFID and system integration, is that it can track miners passing through turnstiles and can mark the path of workers from the ground to the underground.
“The mine in South Africa has adopted a shift-clearance system. According to the system, the working location before the blasting is very clear.” Waterston said, “The implementation of RFID tracking (system) can be provided to the second stage of the mine. Security inspection.” The information generated by the system “allows any miner to quickly confirm where he is located when he has not returned to the lamp room after his shift,” he explained.
The RFID system helps Willard and its mining customers comply with the South African government’s management system for mining and worker safety, by tracking and recording the number of shifts in daily operations, the number of employees working underground in each shift, and the maintenance of safety devices. For all equipment and procedures that were previously manually managed, a complete maintenance history record is essential. The repaired or maintained equipment is recorded in the repair platform through the RFID system. “A miner’s lamp is equipped with a unique identification code, and then you can continue to use it,” Waterston said. “All repaired and replaced parts can be collected through its unique miner’s lamp number, thus constructing a complete service log. This smart The lamp system keeps a complete list of spare items, components and their respective prices, so that it is possible to track costs, spare items and the usage of the components.” He said, “The generation of some necessary reports is electronic, reducing It also reduces the demand for labor in this area. In addition, it also reduces human errors.”
The RFID system integrates smart light application software, and also takes into account the safety verification of turnstile passing points. Only when the mining tool has an allocated miner’s lamp, a fully equipped self-rescue bag and portable gas detection equipment, is it allowed to enter and exit the shaft through the turnstile. Waterston said that the information collected through the RFID system can prevent counterfeit use of identification cards. It can prevent other people from entering and leaving the mine, because only qualified miners have barcode ID tags. The barcode number of the miner and the RFID tag code of the device must match the code assigned by the previous Willard intelligent database.
“Tracking mine workers, many contracted mobile workers are[矿业公司]One of the main challenges faced. “He said, “The miner’s lamp room is a must for all underground operators. Unique identification equipment with RFID tags is allocated to individuals, allowing all necessary personal information to be collected. “
Waterston said that the RFID data obtained from the reader (transponder) is converted into various reports according to the needs of each mining site, “essentially locating the movement of personnel, the loss of equipment, and tracking the equipment to be repaired or exchanged. .”
Waterston mentioned that before this system was put into operation, the monthly loss rate of miner’s lamps at a specific location was as high as 25%. Because there is no mechanism to identify devices and they are not associated with specific individuals, it is impossible to specify who is missing or damaged. It’s very different now.
“The adoption of the lamp for life concept makes the responsibility to be shared among individuals, so that the owner of the miner’s lamp becomes the owner of the miner’s lamp.” Waterston said. The connection of the ID code of the miner with the ID code of the miner’s lamp label can make the assigned equipment owner be liable for the loss or damage of the equipment.
As with the initial stage of any important technology, the training of employees is an important factor in the success of RFID deployment. “Once the correct technology is determined, the training of personnel makes it acceptable[采用]This system used to be, and is still an important challenge for the management of the miner’s lamp room. Waterston said. Although some miners are skeptical of the new system and see it as an assessment mechanism for them, Waterston pointed out that the benefits of the RFID system are very clear to the mine owners. Improved mines The safety mechanism of operators, the cost-effectiveness of equipment maintenance and management are more optimized, and more importantly, the loss of equipment is controlled and the use of equipment is managed more accurately.
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