Contention avoidance

Abstract

A system and method for navigating a vehicle through a mining environment to a target destination is presented. The system and method may be utilized to avoid contention in the mining environment. A route through the mining environment to the target destination for the vehicle is identified and a first speed profile for at least a portion of the route is determined. A potential contention condition associated with the route is identified and the potential contention condition along the route is used to determine a second speed profile for at least a portion of the route. An optimized speed profile is determined using the first speed profile and the second speed profile, and at least a portion of the optimized speed profile is communicated to the vehicle.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 identifying a potential contention condition between at least two vehicles; and   accessing a controller of a first vehicle of the at least two vehicles to cause the first vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , including, accessing a controller of a second vehicle of the at least two vehicles to cause the second vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising analyzing a target destination of the first vehicle to identify the potential contention condition. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the at least two vehicles is a haul truck. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , where the potential contention condition is an occupied resource contention. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the potential contention condition is a roadway contention or an occupied intersection. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein accessing the controller of the first vehicle includes communicating with a human machine interface in the first vehicle to display an instruction to an operator of the first vehicle. 
     
     
         8 . A method, comprising:
 analyzing a task associated with a first vehicle to identify a potential contention condition; and   accessing a controller of the first vehicle to cause the first vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein analyzing the task of the first vehicle to identify the potential contention condition includes determining a route through a mining environment for the first vehicle. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the first vehicle is a haul truck. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , where the potential contention condition is an occupied resource contention. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the potential contention condition is a roadway contention or an occupied intersection. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein accessing the controller of the first vehicle includes communicating with a human machine interface in the first vehicle to display an instruction to an operator of the first vehicle. 
     
     
         14 . A system, comprising
 a fleet profile database storing attributes of a plurality of vehicles in a mining environment; and   a dispatch system configured to:
 access the fleet profile database to identify a potential contention condition between at least two vehicles; and 
 access a controller of a first vehicle of the at least two vehicles to cause the first vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition. 
   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the dispatch system is configured to access a controller of a second vehicle of the at least two vehicles to cause the second vehicle to avoid the potential contention condition. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the dispatch system is configured to determine a route through the mining environment for at least one of the at least two vehicles. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein at least one vehicle of the at least two vehicles is a haul truck. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 14 , where the potential contention condition is an occupied resource contention. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the potential contention condition is a roadway contention or an occupied intersection. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the dispatch system is configured to access the controller of the first vehicle to cause a human machine interface in the first vehicle to display a target speed.