Digital twins of control processes for highly automated mining transport complexes

The article discusses the development and application of digital twins for mining production tasks. Various definitions and the evolution of the “digital twin” concept are analyzed, and it is noted that digital twins have long been used in the automation (digitalization) of mining operations and management processes. However, the Industry 4.0 technologies are currently provideing the digital twins with new meanings and properties. The paper justifies the software and hardware infrastructure of a remote analytical center to build a wide range of digital twins of control processes for highly automated (robotic) mining transport complexes and their application for design and educational purposes (“a digital twin factory”). The most important components of such a remote analytical center are mining and geological information systems, automated control systems for mining transport complexes with a historical database of the system's operation at a mining company, as well as simulators of control processes for load-and-haul complexes and drilling-and-blasting operations. There are several classes of digital twins of highly automated (robotic) mining transport complexes, i.e. digital twins based on real-time processing of telemetric and mining technical information; digital twins for preparation of educational programs using historical databases; digital twins for solving mining planning and design tasks, hypothesis testing, and scenario modeling. The possibility is discussed to apply the experience of building digital twins of mining operations to tasks in the space industry for developing promising technologies and equipment for mining minerals on other planets.