Mining Publication: Technology News 453 - Navigation and Control
of Continuous Mining Systems for Coal Mining The primary focus
of the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) is to make mining safer and
more healthful for mine workers. The USBM research program is
developing technology that will allow computer-assisted
operation of mechanized equipment normally used in underground
room-and-pillar coal mining, while permitting workers to be
located away from the hazardous coal extraction area (the face).
Advanced navigation and control technologies are being developed
for underground room-and-pillar and highwall coal mining that
can be applied to commercially available mining equipment. The
technology being developed uses off-the-shelf components,
minimizing the effort required to adapt it to mining equipment.
Because the new developments are completely modular, only the
modules required in a particular application need be used on the
system.