Skip to main content
Log in

Machine vision for dimensional measurements in mines

  • Papers
  • Published:
Geotechnical & Geological Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Fast growing mechanization and automation in the mining industry has been adopted to increase production, productivity and safety, but it requires quick, precise and automatic measurements. In particular, the measurement of deformations around a coal-mining face has been an extremely difficult task due to the time and space constraints of such sites. In a continuing drive to reduce the inherent risks of danger during working around such difficult areas, much routine inspection work is increasingly being undertaken by remote measuring systems. The advent of digital photogrammetry provides an opportunity for real-time dimensional measurement of such inaccessible areas. In this paper, some examples of reliability testing of automatic measurements using grey scale digital images of mining structures is described. A CCD (charged coupled device) based active triangulation system is combined with image understanding algorithms to provide machine vision capability and for automatic measurement of the textureless and featureless surface of sandstone strata. This paper also presents some results of initial laboratory investigations conducted to test the reliability of basic components of the system.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Banda, F.A.S. (1994) A CCD-based three dimensional imaging system for generation of facial surface models. PhD, Thesis, University College London.

  • Beyer, H.A. (1992) Geometric and radiometric analysis of a CCD-camera based photogrammetric close-range system. PhD Thesis, ETH, Zurich.

    Google Scholar 

  • El-Hakim, S.F. (1985) A photogrammetric vision system for robots,Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing,51, 545–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, C.S. (1992) Photogrammetric measurement to one part in one million.Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing,58, 305–010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, C.S. and Shortis, M.R. (1995) Metric exploitation of still video imagery.Photogrammetric Record,15, 107–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruen, A. (1985) Adaptive least square correlation — a powerful image matching technique.South African Journal of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Cartography,14, 175–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gulch, E., Axelsson, P. and Stokes, J. (1990) Object description and precise location of prescribed objects in digital images.International Archives for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing,28, 221–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, R.N. and Ghose, A.K. (1992) Strata support interaction on a powered support longwall face under a massive dolerite sill — a study, inProceedings of the 11th International Conference on Ground Control in Mining, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, pp. 140–9.

  • Hurteau, R., St-Amant, M., Laperriere, Y., Chevrette, G. and Piche, A. (1991) Optically guided LHD: a demonstration prototype, inProceedings of International Mine Mechanisation & Automation, Colorado School of Mines, USA, 6-11 – 6-20.

  • Karara, H.M. (1985) Close-range photogrammetry: where are we and where are we heading?Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing,51, 537–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keran, C.M. and Hendricks, P.A. (1995) Automation and safety of mobile equipment,Engineering and Mining Journal,196, 30–3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lie, W.N. (1995) Automatic target segmentation by locally adaptive image thresholding, inIEEE Transactions of Image Processing,4 1036–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maerz, N.H. Franklin, J.A. and Bennett, C.P. (1990) Joint roughness measurement using shadow profilometry,International Journal of Rock Mechanics, Mining Sciences and Geomechanics Abstracts,27, 329–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marr, D. and Hildreth, E. (1980) Theory of edge detection,Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 207, 187–217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newton, W. (1993) An approach to the identification of forest in thematic mapper imagery within the context of a change detection system, MSc Thesis, University College London.

  • Orr, C. M. and Champbell, R. (1990) Close-range photogrammetric mapping of open pit mine wall fractures.Proceedings of Mine Geologists Conference, Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia, 25–28.

  • Petrou, M. and Kittler, J. (1991) Optimal edge detectors for ramp edges.IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence,13, 483–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanit-Marc, P., Jezouin, J.L. and Medioni, G. (1991) A versatile PC-based range finding system.IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation,7, 250–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, A., Scoble, M., Lizotte, Y. and Crowther, G. (1991) Characterisation of underground rock fragmentation.Geotechnical and Geological Engineering,9, 93–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, R. (1993) Photogrammetric monitoring of strata deformation. 7th International FIG Symposium on Deformation Measurements, Banff, Alberta, 57–64.

  • Singh, R. (1996) CCD-based active triangulation for automatic close range monitoring of rock movement. PhD Thesis, University College London.

  • Singh, R., Chapman, D.P. and Atkinson, K.B. (1995) Applications of photogrammetry in mining measurement, inProceedings of UK Mineral Industry Conference on Mineral Extraction towards the Millenium, University of Leeds, UK, pp. 91–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, R. Champman, D.P. and Atkinson, K.B. (1997) Digital photogrammetry for automatic close range measurement of textureless and featureless objects.Photogrammetric Record,15, 713–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • St-Amant, M., Laperriere, Y., Hurteau, R. and Chevrette, G. (1991) A simple robust vision system for underground vehicle guidance, inProceedings of International Mine Mechanisation & Automation, Colorado School of Mines, USA, 6-1–6-10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun, G.X., Reddish, D.J. and Whittaker, B.N. (1992) Surface fracture development due to longwall mining and its interpretation using image processing techniques, inProceedings of International Conference on Ground Control in Mining, Wollongong, Australia, 322–33.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Singh, R., Chapman, D.P. & Atkinson, K.B. Machine vision for dimensional measurements in mines. Geotech Geol Eng 15, 185–203 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00880824

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00880824

Keywords

Navigation