Atlas Copco Rocket Boomer L2C/E2C Jumbo Drill Simulator at SMOPYC 2008

• Larger view
  

The Atlas Copco Rocket Boomer L2 C and E2 C are high-capacity drilling rigs used in the construction and mining sectors. Their main purpose is to ensure straight-hole drilling in tunneling and drifting for mine development.

Our simulator is able to reproduce the Rocket Boomer's behavior with the highest accuracy by communicating with its actual RCS (Rig Control System) and keeping both the control panel and display.

The final result is a powerful, flexible and reliable simulator with a wide range of uses: from operator formation to additional help tracking down hardware/software module errors.

Cabin

The simulator's cabin is a Rocket Boomer cabin replica containing a real operator panel+display, a standard PC and a large plasma screen. Our simulator software runs on the PC and communicates with the operator panel and display through a USB-CAN cable, while the plasma screen shows the virtual 3D environment of the rig in real-world drilling situations.

Currently, together with Atlas Copco, we are finishing a more economical and transportable version. In order to achieve this we are replacing all of the Rocket Boomer hardware modules with equivalent software. Only the real operator panel and display unit will be kept. This will leave two different configurations, each of them with different applications.

Architecture

Comparison diagram

• Larger view
  

The simulator communicates with the original hardware, operator panel and display modules: the simulation, on one hand, gives a virtual representation of the rig state according to input events (levers, buttons etc.), and on the other hand sends the expected sensor signals back to the hardware (pressures, positioning etc.).

This way the machine thinks the real booms exist and are moving and drilling physically when the actual process is being computed virtually in the simulator.

Integrating the simulator with the real hardware from the Rocket Boomer has many benefits, to name a few:

• It keeps the original operator panel: keeping the same look and feel is vital when aiming for realism.
• It keeps the original displays, making it possible to check pressures, the drill plan, navigate through the configuration menus etc.
• Adjustments made through the machine’s software will modify the rig’s behavior like it would do in real life.
• It makes it possible to use the automatic drilling mode.
• Critical machine situations can be simulated due to the simulator software being in charge of sending back the sensor signals. Anti-jamming, signal losses and other situations can be studied.
• It works as an additional tool tracking down errors in hardware modules.
• Overall behavior is as close to the original as possible.

New versions soon available:

• Rocket Boomer E-Series.
• Rocket Boomer Simulator replacing all hardware modules by a 100% equivalent software: more economical and transportable.