Boomer is a machine that is developed and produced by Atlas Copco Rock Drills AB, which is used for underground mining and tunneling. It is a blast-hole drilling rig equipped with drills that are attached to the arms, called booms, which the rig holds.
The machine is controlled and monitored by Atlas Copco’s Rig Control System (RCS), which consists of a number of intelligent units connected in a CAN-net. When developing software for the RCS, a simulator that makes it possible to run the software on an ordinary desktop PC is used. The problem is that there is no intuitive way to see how the booms are oriented, while positioning.
Therefore it is desirable to have a 3D visualization of the rig, with focus on the booms, which can be used alongside the simulator to get immediate feedback about the movements of the booms. This report describes the process of developing an application that handles communication with the simulator and the 3D visualization.
Source: Örebro University
Author: Larsson, Mikael