Development of an Integrated, Expert Operations Decision Support System for Underground Coal Mines

West Virginia University did a survey on the use of computers and software in the coal mining industry, published in 1988. It showed extensive implementation of management information systems in mining companies, but most of the software being used in different departments within an organization was the stand-alone type. The computer survey also showed a strong increase in the use of personal computers in coal mining companies. This growth of PC’s within the mining companies has led them to focus on exporting many of the base level software applications to local sites in the strategic planning of their computing systems. These applications will be made within local area networks, for integration purposes, and tied into division—and corporate-level systems through communications packages. Existing and planned schematics of typical hardware configurations for different corporations will be presented here, along with plans on locations at which various types of applications will be made. The basic objective of integrated mine management information systems is to utilize more current and a broader range of information in the support of operational decision making. The ultimate goal is to control operations to minimize unplanned fluctuations in most performances, i.e. in production, in mine-wide equipment maintenance, in belt (and other subsystem) availability, in utilization of manpower, in product quality, and in many other areas as well. Operators have realized that a computing system comprised merely of an MIS is not good enough to tackle such an objective. The high level of world competition for coal markets has led operators to begin integration of diagnostic systems (including expert systems) and monitoring systems into a more global system which has an MIS at its heart. These decision support systems, with full integration of all applications software as a future goal, are being espoused by mining companies throughout the United States. The Pennsylvania State University, West Virginia University, and Colorado School of Mines have all had input into this evolutionary process. The evolution is paralleling development of mine monitoring systems and the automation of equipment for use in coal mines. At West Virginia University, the Mine Management Support System (MMSS) is blossoming into a window-based shell for the integration of a myriad of applications software, as well as developing integral components native to it that focus on enhancing operational decision making. It includes a flexible and robust worker scheduling system that assigns the “best,” qualified workers 276 to the highest priority jobs on a shift while considering many practical and dynamic parameters affecting the assignments (e.g., check-in status of employees, management preference for keeping an employee on his normal job, and multiple job qualifications of employees). A consultation system has been developed to focus on operating problem scenarios and the management-preferred responses to them based on the latest available information. The system will soon employ expert update of the technical coefficients used in the worker scheduling system, demons emanating from an underground robot to trigger a consultation session for a foreman, and a graphical tracking of the robot as it travels paths in a section (both mock and in a mine). This presentation will cover details of MMSS and how the overall goal of integrating a mine management information system, an expert system, and a mine monitoring system will be realized.