Booyco Electronics’ biometric control system has attracted widespread interest in the local mining industry after being introduced to market a little more than a year ago. The unique system was developed specifically for the local operating environment and uses fingerprints to authenticate licensed machine operators.
Use is made of personalised smart cards on which an individual operator’s fingerprints and other relevant data such as licensed capabilities and expiry dates are stored. This provides the ideal solution allowing controlled access to moveable items such as earthmoving and mining equipment, blasting boxes and carts, as well as conveyor starter panels.
An operator gains access to and can operate a given machine or piece of equipment by validating his fingerprint on the scanning device on the machine. This same level of control can be applied underground in other control environments, such as explosive magazines and facilitating access control to underground substations.
Communications to and from the biometric device takes places via an approved control module, and the system makes provision for an IS unit, powered by an IS power supply housed in a flameproof enclosure, to enable use in coal mines.
Booyco Electronics has an established reputation in the mining sector for engineering fit-for-purpose monitoring and controls systems that assist companies to maintain optimum safety under all operating conditions. The company is well known for its innovative Pedestrian Detection System which following its successes underground is being deployed to surface mining operations as well.
