Research on a precise positioning method of rapid excavation systems based on integrated navigation

As coal mine intelligentization advances, precise navigation for rapid excavation systems is critical for efficiency and safety. This study addresses several challenges, including GPS denial, a limited visual line-of-sight, and a lack of multiequipment collaboration in tunnels, by proposing an INS + Vision "mutual reference" collaborative positioning scheme. The method meets high-precision positioning requirements under complex working face conditions. Leveraging the alternating operation of the Bolter Miners (BMs) and the Bolt Transfer Units (BTUs), the scheme uses coordinate transformation and data fusion. When the BM moves while the BTU remains stationary, the BTU's vision-inertial system acts as a local reference to update the BM's pose in real-time. Conversely, when the BTU moves with the BM stationary, the BM's fixed pose becomes the reference for reverse calculation of the BTU's pose. This enables dynamic relative positioning between equipment, solving issues such as single-sensor error accumulation, visual occlusion, and long-range dependency. Experiments show that the BTU achieves maximum lateral/longitudinal errors of 34 mm/66 mm, whereas the BM achieves 28 mm/66 mm. These satisfy underground positioning requirements, confirming the feasibility and expected performance of the proposed integrated navigation method for rapid excavation systems.