Chimera Land underground navigation: design and safety takeaways for mine engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
Advanced Navigation has launched Chimera Land, a 3D Laser Velocity Sensor (LVS) navigation system engineered to maintain precise vehicle positioning in deep, dark, unmapped underground mines where GPS is unavailable. The Sydney-based autonomous systems specialist uses laser-based velocity and 3D motion sensing to track equipment location without reliance on surface beacons or pre-existing maps. For mine operators, this targets drift development, production drilling and autonomous haulage in complex headings where conventional GNSS/INS solutions lose accuracy.
Technical Brief
- Chimera Land’s 3D Laser Velocity Sensor is engineered as a new navigation class for underground fleets.
- Laser-based sensing is intended to maintain odometry accuracy where optical, magnetic or GNSS references are unreliable.
- System design targets operation in low-light, dust-laden headings typical of deep hard-rock and coal mines.
- Removal of dependence on fixed beacons reduces safety exposure from installing and maintaining underground infrastructure.
- Consistent localisation supports collision-avoidance envelopes for autonomous trucks and loaders in narrow drives.
- Improved positional certainty can tighten exclusion zones around headings, reducing worker–machine interface risk.
- Technology is positioned for integration into OEM and retrofit autonomy stacks across multiple underground vehicle types.
- For other underground mining operations, similar LVS approaches could reduce reliance on ad hoc survey controls.
Our Take
Within the 2112 tag-matched pieces on Projects, Product and Safety, there are relatively few items centred on Australian-developed underground navigation systems, so Chimera Land positions Advanced Navigation as one of the more specialised tech suppliers in our mining coverage.
Sydney-based Advanced Navigation entering underground mining aligns with a pattern in our Mining stories where non-traditional mining hubs (often tech or defence clusters) are supplying high-precision sensing and autonomy tools to established operators, rather than miners developing these in-house.
For Australian underground projects, new navigation products like Chimera Land are likely to intersect with tightening safety expectations under state WHS legislation, giving mine operators a regulatory as well as productivity rationale to trial third-party navigation and localisation technologies.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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