Dyno Nobel debuts differential GPS for blastholes

Dyno Nobel’s new technology can eliminate potential human errors and speed up the blasting process through accurate tagging of blastholes. Photo: Dyno Nobel

Dyno Nobel launched its differential global positioning system (DGPS), the newest addition to the company’s electronic initiation lineup.

The new technology can eliminate potential human errors and speed up the blasting process through accurate tagging of blastholes, Dyno Nobel says. DGPS has a semi-autonomous tagging method and is capable of integration into future fully autonomous deployment and tagging.

When blasthole GPS coordinates are not available, the DGPS tagger can log hole positions and import them into Dyno Nobel’s ViewShot 3D software.

According to Dyno Nobel, standard GPS provides the position of an object on earth using signals generated by satellites revolving around the earth. GPS uses standalone receivers where the location is directly calculated but is also prone to orbit errors, multi-path errors and clock errors.

As a result, GPS can gain a nominal accuracy of 10 to 15 meters and is therefore, not suitable for accurate blasthole position, Dyno Nobel says. In contrast, the accuracy of DGPS is achieved by using a reference receiver at a known surveyed location that broadcasts correction data to the tagger.

Using DGPS in “plan mode,” the GPS coordinates from the drill rigs are imported into ViewShot 3D, a blast software that facilitates the planning, design and simulation of the blast outcome. The blast design timing sequence is simulated and optimized using the timing design tools to achieve the desired outcomes. The blast plan and timing sequence is then downloaded onto the DGPS tagger and is ready for tagging.

Dyno Nobel says future applications using DGPS include a standalone module enabling DGPS capability on other equipment, MPUs and drill rigs.