Abstract
SYNOPSIS To reduce the frequency of mining incidents and improve safety and production efficiency, it is important to develop technology for the autonomous positioning and navigation of mining equipment, without the assistance of satellite navigation signals. In this study we review the current technological environment for positioning and navigation underground and present several integrated navigation strategies. Existing underground positioning and navigation technology is described, and the performances of different methods based on this technology analysed and compared. The combination types and positioning effects of underground positioning and navigation strategies are discussed. Recent research directions for filtering methods and positioning estimation algorithms for underground positioning and navigation are reviewed. Finally, we summarize the future direction of underground positioning and navigation technology and related algorithms. Keywords: coal mining; underground positioning and navigation, integrated navigation strategy, inertial navigation, positioning algorithms.
Highlights
Energy is the material basis for human survival and economic development
Summary and future studies The progress made through the latest research on underground positioning and navigation technologies has been introduced and recently proposed integrated navigation strategies and positioning methods summarized
Underground positioning technology based on multi-sensor fusion and independent navigation systems without external node information are extremely promising to improve the accuracy and robustness of underground navigation and positioning systems
Summary
Energy is the material basis for human survival and economic development. Coal, the demand for which continues to increase, accounts for approximately 25% of the world's primary energy supply. China's annual coal output from underground mines reached 3.3 billion tons in 2015. Zhongbin, and Shibo (2016) surmised that there are more than 3 million miners in underground coal mines, working in harsh and dangerous conditions. To ensure the coal mining and tunnelling equipment travels along the planned path and direction, the spatial position and running track of the equipment must be accurately determined. In the absence of satellite navigation signals, it is a difficult task to accurately determine the positioning and navigation of equipment and miners in underground coal mines due to the closed space and complex electromagnetic environment. To mitigate mining safety risk and promote the technological revolution in coal mining, the development of intelligent and automatic navigation and positioning technology for miners and underground mining equipment is of great significance.
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