IDS GeoRadar Radar for Mining Applications

IDS GeoRadar is a leading supplier of robust, reliable and user-friendly radar systems, including slope-monitoring radar and ground-penetrating radar for mining applications.

Radar for slope monitoring in open-pit mines

The IBIS product family offers robust and accurate slope monitoring radar solutions able to rapidly measure slope movements over large areas with sub-millimetre accuracy, providing early warning for impending wall failures. Currently, the most prominent international mining groups choose IDS radars for their reliability, robustness and unrivalled performance.

With FPM360 and multi-scale movement detection algorithm, it is now possible to cover the entire pit and take advantage of the IBIS system’s capabilities for detecting very slow movements in support of mine planning, by taking actions even before displacement starts to interfere with operations.

Slope monitoring radar features:

• Continuous measurement of mine wall / slope movements with sub-millimetre accuracy from distances up to 4,000m
• Full coverage of the entire range of slope instability, from sub-bench failures to large collapses thanks to unequalled spatial resolution and accuracy
• High in-service availability and low maintenance costs due to few moving parts (dish-less antennas) and small power consumption (solar-powered with diesel back-up)
• Suitable for critical active monitoring, as well as long-term monitoring
• Long data sets for geotechnical investigations
• Operates in all-weather conditions

Real-time slope movement monitoring

The IBIS-FM is a modular semi-permanent long range slope monitoring radar. By employing a new advanced radar technology, IBIS-FM is able to set an unmatched acquisition time, leading to the following advantages:

• Faster detection of movements without the need to reduce the area to be monitored
• Reduced impact of the atmosphere between consecutive acquisitions
• Improved sensibility to the onset of potential failures
• ‘Set and forget’ system; the long operating distance allows for temporary or semi-permanent deployment away from operational and blasting zones

Mobile, long-range monitoring system

The alternative IBIS configuration, IBIS-FMT, provides highly accurate, real-time and all-weather measurement of mine wall movements and reliable early warnings for impending failures, with the added value of being fully integrated on a trailer.

The system is ideal for installations where mobility and long range are required. In addition to the standard IBIS advantages, IBIS-FMT offers the following extra benefits:

• A mobile system that is easily towable by light vehicles
• Quick and easy to set-up
• Being self-contained and self-powered
• Fixed or mobile installation capability
• Ideal for multiple pits and large operations

Fast deployment in critical areas and short-range multiple-pit operations

The IBIS-Rover provides highly accurate real-time measurements of mine wall movements, as well as reliable early warning of impending failures, with the added value of high mobility, fast deployment and an enlarged field of view of up to 270°.

IBIS-Rover’s features make it an ideal system for open cut, long-wall operations, multiple open pits where frequent relocation is required, or when urgent active monitoring is required.

In addition to all the functions and proven benefits of the IBIS family, IBIS-Rover offers the following extra benefits:

• Quick and easy one-man set-up
• A self-contained and fully integrated system
• A mobile system, ideal where frequent relocation is required
• Auto-geocoding of radar data
• Enlarged coverage field of view of up to 270°

360° scalable multi-radar system

The FPM360 is an integrated monitoring system based on multiple radar units, controlled and interfaced by a single advanced software platform to provide complete situation awareness. With 360° coverage of the pit slopes in real-time, geotechnical engineers are equipped with a universal image of the entire pit providing exhaustive information about potential areas of instability. FPM360 benefits:

• Integration of multiple IBIS radar units
• Unique user interface for multiple IBIS-FM / FMT / IBIS-Rover radar units for alarm and analysis purposes
• Radar maps simultaneously visualised on the same DTM as one single dataset
• Scalable solution to account for mine expansion

High-resolution panoramic camera for open pits

Eagle-Vision is a new solution on the mining market featuring high image resolution, panoramic coverage and photo-geocoding capabilities. Eagle-Vision is able to capture panoramic photos of the entire pit while keeping a bench resolution at a range of thousands of meters from the slope, providing effective visual information on mine wall stability in support of geotechnical investigations:

• High-resolution images
• Broad coverage for capturing the entire panorama of the pit walls
• Superior bench-scale details
• Designed for mining applications: cutting-edge performance, reliability and durability
• Live stream of specific sectors of the wall

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) systems

IDS is the leading supplier of multi-frequency and multi-channel ground penetrating radar (GPR) designed for non-destructive testing and geophysical investigations.

Remote sensing assessment of blasting performance and highwall damage control

IBIS-FB is a revolutionary remote sensing monitoring system designed to support the assessment of blasting operations and control their impact both on the pit slopes and nearby structures.

Based on microwave interferometry technology, IBIS-FB provides remote broad area measurements of ground vibrations with high accuracy. After every single blast IBIS-FB measures a range of performance indexes at multiple points at long distances, without the need to physically place any sensor or marker on the slope.

IBIS-FB offers the following advantages:

• All-in-one solution to qualitatively and quantitatively monitor blast vibrations
• Remote monitoring even of inaccessible areas of the pit
• Very large data set at various distances from the monitored area
• PPV trend vs scaled distance for every single blast
• Rapid installation and one-touch project set-up