Market opportunity: automation supplier lands government money.

• Author: Migneault, Jonathan

Northern Ontario mining operations could become more efficient and safe thanks to an improved solution developed by a Sudbury-based software company.

Symboticware received a $100,000 grant from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation to develop an improved version of its Sym View software, which allows mining companies to access important data, such as machinery performance and ground stability in real time.

The grant will cover about 40 per cent of the cost to develop and implement the software solution, said Sym-boticware's president and CEO Kirk Petroski.

"The money will allow us to basically have the resources internally to build this new software," said Petroski.

The remaining $150,000 for the project was provided by industry partners, and Symboticware's own investments in research and development.

"To me it's a very good market opportunity" Petroski said about the project. "It provides reliable data, it provides real-time data and it's manageable."

Any mine manager or supervisor can access data on their smartphone, tablet or computer through an online Sym View portal. The data the software collects, for existing Symboticware technologies, can also be added to the companies' larger data management systems.

The SymView software can also interpret data from other Symboticware products, including its SymBots and and Speed Guard technologies.

The SymBot is a device that connects to underground machinery, such as scoop-trams, and measures everything from engine parameters - such as oil pressure - to air quality.

The Speed Guard device, also attached to scooptrams. controls their speed by limiting an operator to a speed limit set by the mining company.

Petroski said the ability to feed real-time data over wireless networks in a mining environment is relatively new.

The Sym View software package, paired with...