Lack of knowledge when it comes to legal compliance of Pedestrian Detection Systems (PDS) is not a good enough excuse. Access to information is fairly simple and for those that need a more in-depth understanding Booyco Electronics is well positioned to assist with the application of this technology in both underground and surface mining operations.

The company has led the drive towards producing PDS technology that will meet and, where possible, exceed the legislated requirements within the South African mining industry. This is according to Anton Lourens, managing director of Booyco Electronics who confirms that the company is one of those selected to participate in The Earth Moving Equipment Safety Round Table (EMESRT) forum.

“This level of collaboration is important in the industry, especially with technology that is cutting edge,” he says. Participation at EMESRT has allowed the company to gain insight into the global requirements for PDS equipment and also to share with the leading international mining houses the strides Booyco Electronics has made with its technology.

Staying close to the market and understanding the operational challenges faced by customers has enabled the company to accelerate its research and development programme, and strategic re-engineering of its products will see these not only meet the South African legislative but also the requirements of EMESRT.

Significantly, Lourens says the company has already developed a high processing power controller. “Essentially, the Booyco Controller Interface is a processing gateway and all sensing technologies and informational data is channelled through this,” he explains. “This enables the user to create the requisite artificial intelligence which is fed to the control systems of the trackless mobile machinery on a site.”

Lourens says that what is most important about this technology is that it facilitates the enormous inflow of information, the processing thereof and then the presentation of it in a simple, easy to understand manner. “Equipment operators cannot be overloaded with information as informed decisions need to be made in a short time frame, and our processing interface will allow this.”

Each Booyco PDS is deployed as a fit-for-purpose technology solution based on application specific risk assessments, and can be integrated across systems for use both underground and on surface, as well as a combination of both.

The same PDS technology deployment could vary from vehicle to vehicle on a single site. Each is manufactured with full self-diagnostics, and the visual and voice display is activated in the case of a warning or a system failure.