TS. Agents
- iarmstrong
Overview
An Agent is an entity that picks blocks, on behalf of one or more diggers, and starts generating transactions. It reads the dependencies to get available blocks, and the incentives to rank them, then picks the highest ranked block. An Agent will continue to pick blocks during a period until stopped by Dependencies or Constraints.
The output of a schedule is a list of schedule transactions which the Agents populates by selecting blocks to mine in sequence.
Adding Agents
Item | Description | |
|---|---|---|
Name | Checking the Use as Agent option in the Loader Types setup step establishes one-to-one relationship and results in a linked Fleet and linked Agent being automatically added to the project whose name match that of the loader type. Stockpile Reclaimer is an Agent used only for material movements between Stockpiles and Crushers. It is added to the list of Agents by default. | |
Image | Image assigned to the agent and used in the Animation: | |
 | Loader | |
Shovel | ||
Excavator | ||
Drill | ||
Dozer | ||
Quantity Field | Select Quantity Field for each Agent. | |
Proportional Extraction | This takes the same proportion out of every parcel within a block. Instead of mining all the grade in the block, Agent will take a proportion of HG, then part the waste parcel, then the next, then the next, etc. Proportional Extraction is a specific tool that affects your schedule speed significantly, by making selected Agent to mine every material in multiple passes instead of one pass. To determine if its’s a suitable tool for your project goals, please contact alastrisupport@micromine.com. | |
Agents Examples
Multiple agents may be used if different block-picking or block-handling behaviors are required:
Single Agent (Miner)
Agents with concurrent incentives (OreMiner, WasteMiner)
Agents with concurrent fleets in same pit (AHS, Operator)
Agents with concurrent destinations for same material (Crusher1Agent, Crusher2Agent)
Depending on the mine site, there may be one Agent or many Agents.
The user can only assign the fleet, not the individual diggers within the fleet.
Agent | Logic | Example |
|---|---|---|
Single Miner Agent | Many projects only have a single “Miner” Agent, which generates every single transaction in the schedule. There might be a Waste Fleet, a South Pit Fleet, an Autonomous Fleet, and a Contractor Fleet, but they all report to the single Miner Agent that is executing the schedule transactions. In this example, for any given pit, the user can only assign the fleet, not the individual diggers within the fleet. Although the targeted tonnes may amount to "one digger", the actual utilisation may be spread across multiple dig units within the fleet. If the user is running a long-term schedule or has a restricted mine site where tramming is limited, then this may be a practical way of scheduling with acceptable accuracy. | A single Miner Agent may select the fleet appropriate to the current schedule transaction: Scheduling by tonnages with a single Miner Agent: |
Multiple Loaders as Agents | If the user is running a short-term schedule, or has a sprawling mine site, then the solution may be to use Multiple Loaders as Agents. With this setup, when the user assigns "1x SH90" to the South Pit, then only that exact digger type is used:
Although these pieces are working together under the same name, they are doing different things.
By chaining one digger type to one Agent, the user has much more granular control over the dig sequence of individual diggers. | "Loaders As Agents" groups each digger type under its own Agent: Scheduling by loader units with Loaders as Agents: |
More details available in the section TS. Schedule Logic > TS. Loaders, Fleets and Agents.
Agent Scheduling Logic Summary
Transaction | Explanation |
|---|---|
Finding Blocks | Agent picks blocks and starts generating the Schedule transactions. In terms of picking the blocks, the first thing the Agent looks for is a list of blocks that are available (based on the Dependencies). If block is not available Agent cannot pick it. |
Ranking Blocks | Once a list of blocks that are available for picking is generated, Agent starts to rank the blocks using the Incentives.
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Picking Blocks | Then the Agent pick the highest ranked block first. |
In each Period, each Agent filters the blocks by their Dependencies (1), sorts them by their Incentives (2), and selects the highest ranked available block (3). | |
Finding Destination | Once Agent pick block it needs to put it somewhere, it’s where the Destination Logic comes in. There is a ranked block list of Source records, and the Agent is going to move them to the Destination, where the material will find its final resting place at the end of a period if the block is picked. If there is no destination rule to cover this transaction, the Source to Destination movement won’t be able to take place. |
Checking Constraints | Once Agent found the Destination Rule for available Destinations, it checks Constraints for available movement. |
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Finding Fleet | Once the transaction to move material from the Source to the Destination is generated, the Agent is looking at the Fleets (which is a pool of hours) and depletes hours from them until there is none left. In terms of what Fleet the Agent is going to use, it’s where the Steps Logic comes in. |
Picking Equipment | Once an Agent knows the Fleet, then it checks the Steps Logic rules and picks the first loader/truck pairing with available hours remaining. |
Checking Routes | Once equipment pair is verified, Agent checks Dynamic Haulage for available route. The Agent queries Haul Infinity for a cycle time for the given source, material, destination, truck, and loader. |