Communications in electronic detonators
A detonator blasting system includes a blasting machine or logger, at least one electronic detonator arranged in an array with electrical connection between them. An improved communications method results in faster communications throughout the blast process.
1 . A blasting system, comprising:
a master controller coupled to a bus, the master controller storing a mapping of local IDs and respective detonator global unique serial ID numbers for a plurality of individual detonators; and
an integer number M electronic detonators of the plurality of individual detonators coupled to the bus, the M electronic detonators having a memory that stores a respective one of the local IDs;
the master controller configured to send a voltage signal that represents a command or communications request to the bus, and subsequently send an integer number N voltage clock pulses to the bus, N being an integer greater than M; and
each respective detonator of the M electronic detonators configured to: responsive to said each respective detonator detecting the command or communications request from the master controller, respond to the command or communications request by asynchronously sending one or more current pulses to the bus a predetermined time delay after receipt of the command or communication request and responsive to an ith one of the N voltage clock pulses, the ith one being an integer that uniquely corresponds to a local ID of the local IDs stored in said each respective detonator and stored in the mapping of the local IDs and the respective detonator global unique serial ID numbers in the master controller.
2 . The blasting system of claim 1 , wherein said each respective detonator is further configured to:
count the N voltage clock pulses following the command or communications request; and
responsive to the count, matching the local ID stored in said each respective detonator, respond to the command or communications request by sending the one or more current pulses to the bus.
3 . The blasting system of claim 1 , wherein the command or communications request is a verify command.
4 . A blasting system comprising:
a master controller coupled to a bus, the master controller storing a mapping of local IDs, respective detonator serial ID numbers, and respective detonator delay times for a plurality of individual detonators; and
an integer number M electronic detonators of the plurality of individual detonators coupled to the bus, the M electronic detonators having a memory that stores a respective one of the local IDs and a respective one of the respective detonator delay times;
the master controller configured to send a voltage signal that represents a command or communications request to the bus; and
each respective detonator of the M electronic detonators configured to:
responsive to said each respective detonator detecting the command or communications request from the master controller, respond to the command or communications request by asynchronously sending one or more current pulses to the bus a predetermined time delay after receipt of the command or communications request, the predetermined time delay based on at least one of the respective one of the local IDs and the respective one of the respective detonator delay times; and
wherein the predetermined time delay is the respective one of the local IDs multiplied by a scaling factor.
5 . The blasting system of claim 4 , wherein the predetermined time delay is the respective one of the respective detonator delay times.
6 . The blasting system of claim 4 , wherein the predetermined time delay is the respective one of the respective detonator delay times multiplied by a scaling factor.
7 . A blasting system comprising:
a master controller coupled to a bus, the master controller storing a mapping of local IDs, respective detonator serial ID numbers, and respective detonator delay times; and
an integer number M electronic detonators coupled to the bus, the M electronic detonators having a memory that stores a respective one of the local IDs and a respective one of the respective detonator delay times;
the master controller configured to send a voltage signal that represents a command or communications request to the bus; and
each respective detonator of the M electronic detonators configured to:
responsive to said each respective detonator detecting the command or communications request from the master controller, respond to the command or communications request by asynchronously sending one or more current pulses to the bus a predetermined time delay after receipt of the command or communications request, the predetermined time delay based on at least one of the respective one of the local IDs and the respective one of the respective detonator delay times.