The risk of injury and near misses for workers around mobile plant and machinery is always a concern during the construction and maintenance of railways where separation of people and plant is not possible. To date, most hazard prevention technologies involve a tag-based system or administrative controls which are not always the most comprehensive solution to the dynamic rail maintenance and construction environment.
Developed over three years by an in-house team of Brisbane-based engineers, PRM Engineering Services have produced the Sentinel Vision A.I. pedestrian detection system, for the specific safety requirements of the rail industry. The system uses the latest in artificial intelligence and pedestrian recognition to detect when a pedestrian is in a machine’s blind spots or enters hazardous zones near mobile machinery, warning both the operator and the pedestrian.
Working in real-time, the Sentinel Vision A.I. system incorporates multiple cameras, that are mounted to mobile machines such as wheel loaders, excavators, and on-track vehicles with as many or as few cameras installed as needed to cover blind spots and assist the operator in identifying people around the machine. Sentinel Vision A.I. is the first pedestrian detection system to alert both the operator and pedestrian. This innovation has been found to cause long-term behavioural change in pedestrians working around mobile plant and machinery. Sentinel Vision A.I. uses a unique voice alarm system to ‘talk’ to the pedestrian, cutting through the beeps and buzzes that that workers hear on sites every day.
The system has been trialled by several top tier rail authorities with positive results and many have reported that when people are alerted by the voice alarm, behavioural change and greater awareness of risky behaviour around mobile plant is achieved. Ideally, over time, Sentinel Vision A.I. will be activated less as people have learnt not to walk in front or behind active vehicles, reducing the risk of accidents and injuries.
The system takes images from the detection cameras and then processes the information through an A.I. neural network to determine if there is anything that looks like a person, or part of a person, and if there is, it triggers internal and external alarms. Detection zones are customisable and determined with an easy to use drag and drop interface, and an additional option of pre-warning zones. The system has been trialled and used in a range of different operating environments and environmental conditions with positive feedback.
Sentinel Vision A.I. is one of a number of innovative products developed by PRM Engineering Services. Part of the PRM Group of companies, which has been providing safety systems and equipment to the rail industry for over 20 years, PRM Engineering Services designs bespoke safety and control systems that meet the unique needs of operators. Through our partnerships and experience gained in the rail and heavy machinery industries, PRM Engineering Services’ range of Sentinel Safety systems were developed to meet the changing safety and risk management requirements of rail authorities.
The Sentinel Safety range also includes several Height and Slew limiters used throughout the rail and construction industries to allow safe operation around powerlines and within confined spaces. The Sentinel Height and Slew limiters have been used by rail authorities Australia wide for a several years and can be retrofitted to any machine with articulated booms.
Based on this experience PRM has also recently released additional optional features including HV detection and RFID for attachment recognition. By combining the functionality of our widely used Sentinel Height and Slew limiters with a patented Sentinel HV Aerial Module, the system can ensure safe operation around powerlines from the moment the machine is turned on. The system prevents the machine moving within the exclusion zone around powerlines and motion-cut valving prevents the machine from moving closer while allowing the operator to direct the machine away from the electricity source.
The Sentinel Height and Slew limiters are perfect for the safe operation of excavators, loaders, skid steers and backhoes when working under overhead powerlines, in and around bridges and inside tunnels and can be installed on new and old machines alike. The Sentinel Height and Slew limiters also have are range of rail specific systems to the meet the machine safety requirements of multiple rail authorities and councils.
PRM Engineering Services are passionate about safety and have a long-standing heritage of safety system design and installation since 2002. With experience in the rail and earthmoving industries, PRM Engineering Services have become integrators and developers of a number of unique safety and control systems that meet customer requirements. These projects have ranged in scope from customisations of height or slew systems through to full redesign of control systems for on-track rail vehicles. Along with our team of talented engineers, the PRM Group of companies can also assist with the installation or modification of electrical, hydraulic, and control systems for heavy machinery, enabling PRM Engineering Services to offer end-to end innovative and customised solutions to our wide range of customers.
Find out more at: https://www.sentinelsafety.com.au/.