Motion Control and Supervision of a Drill Rig for Underground Mining

The efficient and precise operation of heavy machines with coordinated motion in multiple axes requires advanced computer-based control approaches. Furthermore, the increasing complexity of such systems demands for comprehensive user assistance as well as for extensive monitoring. This paper presents a Cartesian control system of a drilling boom for blasting and bolting operation in tunncling and underground mining. By means of an advanced human-machine-interface easy manual and automatic operation leading to a higher system performance could be achieved. Since the system architecture is based on standard internet technologies, this approach can be used to build up distributed control systems, e.g. to establish telemanipulation of the drill rig. In addition, system supervision applications can easily be realized from authorized remote clients via common web browsers. Special attention will be given to the use of modern teleservice techniques to support starting up, system diagnosis, maintenance and repair of the system.