DRONESAFE

Purpose and goal

DRONESAFE proposes the development of autonomous drones, equipped with gas sensors, to monitor gas toxicity levels or specific areas in BOLIDEN´s open pit mine in Aitik, Sweden after blasting. To break Swedish deposits both at increasing depth with increased productivity and safety, DRONESAFE focuses on optimizing the methods used in the blasting cycle, and ensuring the safety of personnel during gas monitoring. Through the use of DRONESAFE, it is thus expected to have realistic Key Performance Indicator (KPIs) of: zero people working under the monitoring of toxic gases.

Expected results and effects

1. Develop Robust, Reliable advanced AI enabled autonomy for aerial vehicles (drones) with the capability to autonomously conduct toxic gases measurements after blasting in full autonomous mode. 2. Integration of the autonomous toxic gases sensing solution with the aerial platform. 3. Integration of aerial platform positioning system for localization in the open pit mine 4. Validation of the concept of autonomous toxic gases measurements with the developed aerial platform in the BOLIDEN’s open pit mine at Aitik, Sweden.

Planned approach and implementation

The project will be lead by Luleå University of Technology(LTU) who will also develop and adapt the drone technologies for autonomous operation in the harsh environment of the Boliden´s mine Aitik. Boliden will also set the specifications for the envisioned operating scenario and the guidelines for adopting the presented DRONESAFE technology. ABB will contribute to the gas sensing activities and towards the integration of this type of sensors on the drones and also on the production systems. The contributions from all the partners will be integrated and demonstrated in the field.

External links

https://www.ltu.se/research/subjects/RoboticsAI/Forskning/DRONESAFE-1.204090?l=en DRONESAFE presentation at Vinnova digital demo day