Neptec Technologies Launches 3DRi™ Excavator Applications for the Mining Industry

OTTAWA, May 7, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Neptec Technologies Corp. today announced the launch of 3DRi™  Excavator - a suite of 3DRi™ (3D Real-time intelligence™) software applications that improves safety and enhances productivity for excavators and shovels used in open-pit mining.  

The first three excavator-based applications in the suite include:

3DRi™ Bench Profiler – a safety application to display the face profile and provide alerts in real-time to the shovel operator to warn of undercuts. The application is being integrated with Wenco's high-precision BenchManager™ system by Wenco and one of its clients in the Oil Sands.

3DRi™ Bench Mapper – a productivity and safety application that automatically generates user-scheduled DTMs of the bench from the excavator.  Data is automatically down-sampled right on the excavator into a user-defined grid with toe and crest extraction. DTM model files are accessible remotely and can be easily imported into commonly-used mine planning software packages. 3DRi Bench Mapper eliminates dangerous manual survey work in the pit and improves the productivity of the survey team who can focus on the mine model rather than manual data collection.

3DRi™ Fragmentation – a productivity application that uses an innovative 3D algorithm to determine accurate rock size distribution of the bench using 3D LiDAR data without the need for any reference scaling object and independent of contrast and lighting issues experienced with conventional 2D or stereo camera-based solutions.  Users can schedule the periodic collection of fragmentation statistics which are automatically calculated right on the excavator in a matter of seconds and available for remote access and reporting.

All three applications use the real-time 3D data from a single OPAL 3D LiDAR sensor installed on the shovel together with a rugged 3DRi computer running Neptec's 3DRi Software Development Kit (SDK) and application software. OPAL 3D sensors are specifically designed for on-machine applications in harsh environments like mining and include Neptec's patented obscurant-penetrating LiDAR technology. Through a 3DRi web interface, users can remotely schedule and configure the data outputs being recorded automatically by the applications.

"With today's emphasis on mine productivity, nobody has the time or the staff to collect and post-process huge amounts of data," said Dr. Jon Peck, President and CEO of Peck Tech Consulting Ltd. "It's all about getting the answers to quickly make the right decisions such that the focus is on running an efficient and safe mining operation. 3DRi Excavator automates getting such answers, eliminates manual and potentially dangerous data collection in the pit, and improves the availability of accurate real-time information critical to optimizing the end-to-end mining process."

"Our customers are asking us for "more information, less data!" and that is what we continue to focus on as we roll out more productivity and safety applications based on our 3DRi software technology and OPAL sensors," added Mike Sekerka, CEO of Neptec Technologies. Neptec Technologies will be exhibiting at the CIM Expo 2015 in Montreal, QC (May 10-12, Booth 427) and Haulage and Loading 2015 in Phoenix, AZ (May 17-20, Booth 30). These applications are also available from Trimble, Neptec's global distribution partner in the mining industry.

About Neptec Technologies
Neptec Technologies Corp. develops intelligent 3D sensor-driven robotics applications for harsh environments that improve the safety, productivity and cost-effectiveness of its customers' operations. We use our industry-unique and patented 3D Real-time intelligence™ (3DRi) hardware and software technologies to solve real-world automation problems in industries like mining, oil and gas, defence and aerospace or anywhere intelligent 3D can help automate complex or dangerous tasks. We develop, supply and integrate intelligent 3D applications based on our family of obscurant-penetrating OPAL 3D laser sensors especially designed for harsh environments, and a proprietary 3DRi Software Development Kit (SDK) with a library of software algorithms to extract actionable information for 3D sensors data in real-time. The 3DRi SDK includes an API and out-of-the-box features like automatic change detection, object recognition, object tracking and automatic scan alignment.

Founded in 2011, Neptec Technologies is a spin-out of Neptec Design Group Ltd, an award-winning technology innovator for the Space market and NASA Prime Contractor.
We are located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. More information is available at www.neptec.com.

About Peck Tech Consulting Ltd.
Peck Tech Consulting Ltd. is the leading industry resource to rapidly assist customers to define the most viable and complete technology solution and strategy that delivers tangible and measurable outcomes related to higher overall health and safety as well as enhanced performance and productivity. Combined, Peck Teck employees and associates offer 100 years of project consulting and development experience and innovation derived from working on technology product development and deployment on production and exploration drills, electric cable shovels, hydraulic excavators, haul trucks and drag lines. More information is available at www.pecktech.ca.

SOURCE Neptec Technologies Corp.

Sarah Mongrain, +1 613.599.7602 [email protected]