BlastIQ™ Design for Outcome (DfO) Tools – Post Drill Classification Dashboard

To navigate to the Post Drill Classification Dashboard:

1. 1. From the BlastIQ™ Insights toolbar, select Design for Outcome.

   2. From the Design for Outcome menu options, select Post Drill Classification.

      

The Post Drill Classification Dashboard is divided and arranged into seven main areas:

1. 1. The Blast Selection drop-down menu.
      • Select a blast plan from the available blasts to view the Post-drilling Blastability Classification results for that blast.
   2. The Blast Map View Controls.
      • Toggle on and off visibility of different Map Views and Layers.
      • Display the Map Legend.
   3. The results Interpolation and Smoothing Controls.
      • Interpolate the Blastability Classification for holes with missing MWD data.
      • Apply fuzzy logic to reduce variability (smooth) Classification domain boundaries across the selected blast plan.
   4. The results Export Button.
      • Export the Post-drilling Blastability Classification results for the selected blast to a .csv formatted file.
   5. The Results Table.
      • Tabular view of the Post-drilling Blastability Classification results for the selected blast.
   6. The Blast Map.
      • Interactive Map view of the Post-drilling Blastability Classification results for the selected blast.

      • Includes (an optional) in-hole visualisation of blastability classification for blasts configured using the Advanced Configuration Type settings.  See BlastIQ^TM Design for Outcome Tools - Configuration Dashboard for more information regarding the Basic versus Advanced Classification Types.

   7. The graphical and statistical Results Summary views.
      • Additional information to aid in the interpretation and validation of the Post-drilling Blastability Classification results for the selected blast.

To view the progress of blast-hole drilling within a blast-plan, as well as the resultant Post-drilling Classification of Blastability derived from the observed Measure While Drilling (MWD) data:

1. 1. Click on the “Select a blast” drop-down menu found in the upper-left corner of the Post Drill Classification Dashboard to expand the selection list.

      

      Blasts will appear in this list sorted by firing date (most recent first), then by Blast Name.  Unfired blasts will appear before fired blasts.

   2. Select one blast from the list of available blast plans to view the drilling progress and Classification results for that blast.

Upon selecting a blast from the Blast Selection drop-down menu, the Blast Map will render. 

Initially, markers will be displayed indicating the design location for each blast-hole collar within the blast-plan. 

As blast-holes are drilled, and MWD data is received on the BlastIQ^TM servers for analysis by the Design for Outcome algorithms, new markers will be added to the Blast Map indicating the actual as-drilled blast-hole collar locations (or, at least the "best available" collar location).  A colour-filled polygon will also be rendered, surrounding each drilled blast-hole, with the colour indicating the determined Blastability Class.

By regularly checking this Blast Map view, a user can monitor the progress of blast-hole drilling implementation for a blast.

A legend describing the contents of the Blast Map is accessible by hovering the mouse pointer over the "information" symbol found in the top-right corner of the Blast Map.

Pan and Zoom functions are enabled within the Blast Map, these are accessed via the Plot Toolbar.

The Plot Toolbar is visible in the top-right corner of the Blast Map when hovering the mouse anywhere over the Map window.

Each item within the Plot Toolbar enables the following action after selection:

• • Download Plot. Save the current Plot View as an image file (.png format).

  • Pan. Use a click (left-mouse button) and drag action to Pan the view.
  • Zoom In. Click this to zoom in one level.
  • Zoom Out. Click this to zoom out by one level.
  • Reset Axes. Click this to reset the view back to the original default view state (i.e. a view zoomed and centred on the selected blast).

Additional Pan and Zoom functionality is also enabled using only mouse and keyboard controls:

• • To Zoom In on an area of interest within a Blast Map, utilise a click and drag action with the mouse to define the region of interest to zoom in on. Whilst holding the left-mouse-click and dragging, the region of interest will be highlighted within the view, upon release of the mouse-click, the view will update too the new zoomed extents.
  • Double-clicking the left-mouse button anywhere within the Blast Map view will reset the view back to the original default view state (i.e. a view zoomed and centred on the selected blast).
  • To Pan the Blast Map, depress the SHIFT key on your keyboard, whilst depressed use a click and drag action (SHIFT + left-mouse-click and hold) to Pan the view.

As blast-holes are drilled, and MWD data is received on the BlastIQ^TM servers for analysis by the Design for Outcome algorithms, the Results Table will also be updated with the predicted blastability class for each blast-hole.

The Results Table contains the following information columns:

• • Hole Name, lists all designed blast-holes within the selected blast-plan.
  • Is Drilled, indicates (with a symbol) whether the blast-hole is drilled or not, to be deemed "Is Drilled", there must be some evidence of being drilled (i.e. records exist in BlastIQ of any as-drilled measurement or as-loaded measurement for the blast-hole).
  • Has MWD, indicates (with a symbol) whether MWD data is available and matched to the blast-hole.
  • Class, the initial predicted blastability class for the blast-hole.
  • Class (Interp.), indicates whether a smoothing and/or interpolation has been performed on the blast-plan.  The table cell will be blank (empty) if these functions have not been run on the selected blast-plan, if smoothing and/or interpolation has been performed, this column will be populated with the revised predictions of blastability class.

The Results Table also has a data filtering and sorting feature:

• • Sorting of the results table can be modified by clicking on the symbol in the header for each table column.

    Clicking this symbol in a different column will re-sort the table alphabetically on the newly selected column.  Initially (by default), the table will be sorted alphabetically on the "Hole Name" column.

    Clicking this symbol again will toggle the sort order from alphabetical to reverse alphabetical order. 

    Alphabetical sorting is by dictionary order, with numbers and most symbols coming before letters, and uppercase coming before lowercase.

  • Filtering the contents of the table is enabled by typing a filter query in the "filter" cell found immediately below each column header cell.

    

    The default filtering syntax uses the "contains" operator.

    For example, to show only blast-holes containing the letter "A" within their "Hole Name", the following could be entered in the filter cell:

    • • A
      • "A"
      • contains A
      • contains "A"

    To enable exact matching, use the optional "equals" operator.

    For example, to find and show the blast-hole with the "Hole Name" of "A10", the following could be entered in the filter cell.

    • • = A10
      • = "A10"
      • eq A10
      • eq "A10"

As blast-holes are drilled, and MWD data is received on the BlastIQ^TM servers for analysis by the Design for Outcome algorithms, a colour-filled polygon will be rendered on the Blast Map, surrounding each drilled blast-hole.

The colour of this polygon indicates the determined Blastability Class.  A Brown colour-range scheme is utilised to indicate the Blastability Class for each drilled blast-hole, with light-brown indicating  the weakest (or softest) blastability class, and dark-brown indicating the hardest blastability class.

Further interrogation of the selected blast-plan via the Blast Map is enabled by hovering the mouse over a displayed blast-hole collar to reveal details of that blast-hole including:

• • The blast-hole’s name or identifier.
  • The blast-hole's design length.
  • The blast-hole's actual length (if available).
  • The determined Blastability Class for the blast-hole (if available).

As blast-holes are drilled, and MWD data is received on the BlastIQ^TM servers for analysis by the Design for Outcome algorithms, a colour-filled polygon will be rendered on the Blast Map (plan-view), surrounding each drilled blast-hole.

The colour of this polygon indicates the indicative Blastability Class.  For blast-plans with an Advanced configuration setting, this displayed blastability class is indicative only, as we are primarily concerned with the in-hole variation of blastability when using Advanced configuration. 

Additional to the standard plan view Blast Map, a diagram indicating the cross-section view of a selected blast-hole is also shown (only for blast-plans configured with the Advanced configuration type) to the right of the plan-view.

The cross-sectional blast-hole view consists of the following features:

• • A stylised view of the blast-hole, as indicated by the bold-black outline.
  • A line-chart, indicating the predicted blastability class at-depth (along the selected blast-holes length), as determined form the analysis of the available MWD data for the selected blast-hole.
  • Coloured rendering of the predicted blastability class at-depth for the selected blast-hole.

A Brown colour-range scheme is utilised to indicate the Blastability Class for each drilled blast-hole, with light-brown indicating  the weakest (or softest) blastability class, and dark-brown indicating the hardest blastability class.

To view the in-hole detail for other blast-holes within the selected blast-plan:

1. Click on the blast-hole collar symbol within the plan-view of the selected blast-plan.
2. The blast-hole section view will re-render, showing the in-hole detail for the newly selected blast-hole

Further interrogation of the selected blast-plan via the Blast Map is enabled by hovering the mouse over a displayed blast-hole collar to reveal details of that blast-hole including:

• • The blast-hole’s name or identifier.
  • The blast-hole's design length.
  • The blast-hole's actual length (if available).
  • The determined Blastability Class for the blast-hole (if available).

Further interrogation of the selected blast-hole via the Blast Map is enabled by hovering the mouse over the displayed blast-hole sectional view to reveal details of the blast-hole and the blastability class at that depth within the blast-hole, including:

• • The blast-hole’s name or identifier.
  • The depth within the blast-hole.
  • The determined Blastability Class at that depth within the selected blast-hole (if available).

Only blast-holes that have MWD data available within the BlastIQ^TM system and successfully associated (matched) to a blast-hole within a blast-plan will have a blastability classification predicted for them.  Without valid MWD data, a post drill classification of blastability is not normally possible.

However, the interpolation of a blast-hole's blastability classification is supported (under certain conditions), enabling blast-holes with missing or incomplete MWD data to still have a classification predicted for them.

The interpolation function applies fuzzy logic to infer the blastability class for a blast-hole based upon the predicted classes of surrounding blast-holes.  This requires that a blast-hole has a minimum number of surrounding blast-holes (within a minimum distance from the blast-hole) having a valid, predicted blastability class.

To interpolate the blastability class for blast-holes (with no predicted post-drill blastability class) within a blast-plan:

1. 1. Click on the “Interp.” button found in the upper-left corner of the Post Drill Classification Dashboard to run the interpolation logic on the selected blast plan.

      

   2. If an interpolation has previously been run on the selected blast-plan, a confirmation dialogue window will appear.

      

      Select "Continue" to discard previous interpolation results and re-run the interpolation function for the selected blast-plan.

   3. The interpolation function will run, the Blast Map will re-render upon completion.

   4. An "Interp." toggle switch will also appear in the top-region region (above the Blast Map) adjacent to the other Blast Map View Controls.  This switch allows the user to toggle the interpolation results on and off within the Blast Map view.

      

      Using the mouse, "click" to move the switch back and forth from the on to off position.

The below example shows a portion of a blast-plan with post-drilling classification of blastability determined for most blast-holes. 

Three (3) blast-holes (visible in left-image) do not have a predicted class (no colour-filled polygon displayed), although they show evidence of being drilled (best available collar markers displayed).  This would indicate that despite being drilled, no valid MWD data was received for these blast-holes for analysis using the Design for Outcome algorithms. 

After running the interpolation function, the three blast-holes, now have a predicted blastability class available and displayed (visible in right-image).  The fuzzy logic applied has inferred the blastability class for each missing hole based upon the predicted classes of surrounding blast-holes. 

The Design for Outcome Post-drill Classification algorithm can produce predictions of blastability that appear highly variable across a drill bench (i.e. frequent changes in blastability class between sequential blast-holes).  This frequent change can introduce operational challenges when charging the blast-holes, if the blast design is based upon blastability class (i.e. when the blast design dictates changing to a different bulk explosive formulation frequently from one blast-hole to another).  

These operational challenges can be mitigated through the use of modern, automated, digital MMU (Mobile Manufacturing Unit) control systems (such as Orica's LOADPlus^TM equipped MMUs), that eliminate the need for MMU operators to manually adjust pot settings for each different bulk explosive formulation being manufactured and delivered.  However, where these operational challenges do exist (related to the requirement for frequent bulk explosive formulation changes within a blast), an optional smoothing function is provided to mitigate these challenges, the smoothing function attempts to limit the frequency of blastability class changes between blast-holes.

Like the interpolation function, the smoothing algorithm makes use of fuzzy logic to adjust the predicted blastability class of blast-holes.

To apply smoothing to the blastability class predictions of a selected blast-plan:

1. 1. Select the number of smoothing iterations to perform by adjusting the position of the "Smooth" slider found in the upper-left corner of the Post Drill Classification Dashboard.

      

      By default, the "Smooth" slider will be in the "No Smoothing" position.  Click (with left mouse-button) on the desired slider position (1, 2, or 3), or click-and-drag (with mouse) the slider to the desired position (1, 2, or 3) to set the number of smoothing iterations to perform on the selected blast-plan.

   2. Click on the “Interp.” button found adjacent to the "Smooth" slider to apply the smoothing logic to the selected blast plan.

      

      Clicking "Interp." whilst the "Smooth" slider is in the "No Smoothing" position will perform an interpolation on blast-holes with a missing prediction of blastability class ONLY.

      Clicking "Interp." whilst the "Smooth" slider is set to either 1, 2, or 3 iterations will perform an interpolation (of missing predictions) as well as apply the selected number of smoothing iterations on the blastability class predictions.

   3. If smoothing has previously been run on the selected blast-plan, a confirmation dialogue window will appear.

      

      Select "Continue" to discard previous smoothing results and re-run the smoothing function for the selected blast-plan.

   4. The smoothing function will iteratively run (as per the selected number of iterations), the Blast Map will re-render upon completion of all smoothing iterations.

   5. An "Interp." toggle switch will also appear in the top-region region (above the Blast Map) adjacent to the other Blast Map View Controls.  This switch allows the user to toggle the smoothing results on and off within the Blast Map view.

      

      Using the mouse, "click" to move the switch back and forth from the on to off position.

The below example shows a blast-plan with the post-drilling classification of blastability determined for most blast-holes (left-image).   The same blast-plan is shown (in right-image) after the application of smoothing (using 3-iterations).

As can be seen, after smoothing, much of the inter-hole variation in blastability class has been removed, with class domain boundaries now resulting in logical groups of blast-holes with similar blastability class.

The smoothing process is iterative (based upon the number of iterations selected), the resultant blastability class (domain) groupings will become more homogenous with each additional smoothing iteration performed.  However, as additional iterations are performed, the potential for greater variance (difference) between the initial  predicted class and the resultant smoothed class predictions increases, thus the smoothed blastability classes are potentially less accurate and include a higher degree of uncertainty.

It is recommended that the Smoothing function be used judiciously, if used at all.

To assist users in assessing the degree of uncertainty introduced by the use of the smoothing function, and to aid in the decision as to whether the smoothing results should be accepted or discarded,  some additional statistics are included in the Results Summary section on this dashboard.

The # Holes changed by smoothing item provides a count of blast-holes in the selected blast-plan that had their predicted Class changed by the smoothing algorithm.  Ideally, this count should be minimised as a change introduced by smoothing is potentially a less accurate prediction of blastability.

The Smoothing Uncertainty Score provides a metric of the amount of uncertainty (change) introduced to the blast-plan blastability class predictions via the use of the Smoothing algorithm, where 0.0% equals no change, and 100.0% equals maximum possible change.  Ideally, this score should be minimised, any smoothing results with a score greater than 10% should be reviewed in detail before accepting or discarding.  Again, it is recommended that the Smoothing function be used judiciously, if used at all.

Further additional description on interpreting the statistics within the Results Summary are provided below (see section - Interpreting the Classification Statistics). 

The graphical summary (also provided within the Results Summary section) is also updated after running the smoothing function on the selected blast-plan, this graph changes from the standard bar-graph (shown in the left-image below) to an enhanced bar graph (shown in right-image below). 

A description on interpreting the standard bar graph is provided below (see section - Interpreting the Classification Statistics).

The enhanced bar-graph provides detail on the change in blastability class introduced by the smoothing algorithm.  In the above example, originally the selected blast-plan had a total of 24 blast-holes with a predicted blastability class of "Soft-Medium" (as seen in left-image), after smoothing, 15 blast-holes (of the original 24 blast-holes) remain in the "Soft-Medium" class, and 9 have been changed to a blastability class of "Medium" (as shown in right-image).  Ideally, the number of holes that have their class changed by smoothing should be minimised, however if changed, the magnitude of change should also be minimised (i.e. it is preferred to see a blast-hole class changed from "Soft" to "Soft-Medium" as opposed to being changed from "Soft" to "Hard", the maximum possible change).

The exact count of blast-holes can be revealed on this revised bar-chart by hovering the mouse over a displayed bar.

As well as displaying the Post-drilling Classification of Blastability derived from the observed Measure While Drilling (MWD) data visually on the Blast Map, the classifications predicted are also summarised within the Results Summary section on the lower-left side of the dashboard.

The Results Summary section provides:

• A statistical summary of the blast-plan and it's corresponding predictions of blastability class.

  

  The Statistical Summary provides the following detail:

  • • Classification type, as configured for the selected blast-plan (i.e. Basic or Advanced Plus).
    • # Holes Designed, a count of the blast-holes included in the design of the selected blast-plan.
    • # Holes Drilled, a count of blast-holes in the selected blast-plan that have some evidence of being drilled (i.e. records exist in BlastIQ of any as-drilled measurement or as-loaded measurement for the blast-hole).
    • # Holes MWD, a count of blast-holes that have MWD data available and matched (to the blast-hole) within the selected blast-plan, enabling further analysis via the Design for Outcome algorithms on the BlastIQ^TMservers.
    • # Holes Class Predicted, a count of blast-holes in the selected blast-plan that have an initial successful prediction of blastability class based upon the supplied MWD data. 
    • # Holes Class Interpolated, a count of blast-holes in the selected blast-plan that had their blastability class inferred using the interpolation fuzzy logic.  These holes will have had missing or invalid MWD data thus preventing the initial prediction of blastability class. 
    • # Holes changed by smoothing, a count of blast-holes in the selected blast-plan that had their predicted Class changed by the smoothing algorithm.
    • Smoothing Uncertainty Score, an indicator of the amount of uncertainty (change) introduced to the blast-plan blastability class predictions via the use of the Smoothing algorithm (where 0.0% equals no change, and 100.0% equals maximum possible change).

• A graphical summary of the predictions of blastability class

  

  The Graphical Summary consists of a Bar Chart displaying the a count of blast-holes in the selected blast-plan that have an initial successful prediction of blastability class, grouped by blastability class.

  The exact count of blast-holes can be revealed by hovering the mouse over a displayed bar.

  

The ability to export (download) the Classification results is supported:

1. To download the Classification results for the selected blast-plan, click the Export button found in the upper-right region of the dashboard (just below the Blast Selection drop-down item).

   

2. The Blastability Classification data for the selected blast-plan will be written to a CSV (comma separated variable) formatted file and saved to the users default download directory on their local hard-drive.

The Classification data downloaded to a CSV (comma separated variable) formatted file for a selected Blast (using the Basic configuration type) will be of the following form:

• • File name format for 2D will be: f"{page_name}_{plan_name}_blastholes".
  • The first row in the saved CSV file consists of meta-data defining the download contents, including details of the:
    • • Site Name
      • Plan Name
      • Smoothing applied
        • Indicator (True or False) as to whether Smoothing was applied to the Classification results
      • Smoothing iterations
        • Number of smoothing iterations applied (if applied)
      • Unit System
        • Unit of measure (metric or imperial, as per BlastIQ Site settings), and the
      • Date
        • Date of download (file creation)
  • The second row is the header row, defining the data fields provided, including:
    • • hole_name, the identifier/label of the blast-hole
      • design_collar_x, the planned easting (x-coordinate) of the blast-hole collar position
      • design_collar_y, the planned northing (y-coordinate) of the blast-hole collar position
      • design_collar_z, the planned elevation (z-coordinate) of the blast-hole collar position
      • actual_collar_x, the actual observed easting (x-coordinate) of the blast-hole collar position
      • actual_collar_y, the actual observed northing (y-coordinate) of the blast-hole collar position
      • actual_collar_z, the actual observed elevation (z-coordinate) of the blast-hole collar position
      • design_hole_length, the planned length of the blast-hole 
      • measured_hole_length, the actual measured length of the blast-hole
      • drill_actual_hole_length, the drilled length of the blast-hole
      • has_mwd, an indicator (true or false) as to whether MWD data was received for the blast-hole
      • actual_diameter, the drilled diameter of the blast-hole
      • post_drill_classification_number, the determined blastability class number for the blast-hole
      • post_drill_classification_text, the determined blastability class label for the blast-hole
      • post_drill_interpolated_number, the interpolated and/or smoothed blastability class number for the blast-hole
      • post_drill_interpolated_text, the interpolated and/or smoothed blastability class label for the blast-hole
  • Subsequent rows contain the individual observations, one row per blast-hole.

The Classification data downloaded to a CSV formatted file (using the Advanced Plus configuration type) for a selected Blast will be of the following form :

• • When exporting using the Advanced Plus configuration there will 2 files exported.
    • For 2D:
      • File name format format will be: f"{page_name}_{plan_name}_blastholes".
      • First first row and second row in the saved CSV file will be the same as basic.
      • Should have one row per hole with collar coordinates.
    • For 3D:
      • File name format format will be: f"{page_name}_{plan_name}_profilelog".
      • The first row in the saved CSV file consists of meta-data defining the download contents, including details of the:
        • Site Name
        • Plan Name
        • Smoothing applied
          • Smoothing Indicator (this is always False, as Smoothing IS NOT supported for the  Advanced configuration)
        • Smoothing iterations
          • Number of smoothing iterations applied (this is always zero (0))
        • Unit System
          • Unit of measure (metric or imperial, as per BlastIQ Site settings), and the
        • Date
          • Date of download (file creation)
      • The second row is the header row, defining the data fields provided, including:
        • hole_name, the identifier/label of the blast-hole
        • three_d_elevation, the actual elevation (z-coordinate) of the MWD sample along the blast-hole path (trace)
        • three_d_depth, the actual depth (from the actual blast-hole collar) of the MWD sample
        • three_d_classification_number, the determined blastability class number at the MWD sample position within the blast-hole
        • three_d_classification_text, the determined blastability class label at the MWD sample position within the blast-hole
        • three_d_interpolated_number, the interpolated and/or smoothed blastability class number for the MWD sample position within the blast-hole
        • three_d_interpolated_text, the interpolated and/or smoothed blastability class label for the MWD sample position within the blast-hole
      • Subsequent rows contain the individual observations, one row per MWD sample position within each blast-hole.

The downloaded CSV formatted file then can be imported into a blast design package (e.g. SHOTPlus^TM6) to inform decisions relating to the selection, design, and placement of explosive decks within the blast-holes.