Mert Meral

Mr. Mert Meral

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Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

2Years (2025-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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22 April 2025 in Applied Sciences
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
KHKürşat Hasözdemir
Kürşat Hasözdemir
MMMert Meral
Mert Meral
MKMuhammet Mustafa Kahraman
Muhammet Mustafa Kahraman
The implementation of fleet management software in mining operations poses challenges, including high initial costs and the need for skilled personnel. Additionally, integrating new software with existing systems can be complex, requiring significant time and resources. This study aims to mitigate these challenges by leveraging advanced technologies to reduce initial costs and minimize reliance on highly trained employees. Through the integration of computer vision and multi-objective optimization, it seeks to enhance operational efficiency and optimize fleet management in open-pit mining. The objective is to optimize truck-to-excavator assignments, thereby reducing excavator idle time and deviations from production targets. A YOLO v8 model, trained on six hours of mine video footage, identifies vehicles at excavators and dump sites for real-time monitoring. Extracted data—including truck assignments and excavator ready times—is incorporated into a multi-objective binary integer programming model that aims to minimize excavator waiting times and discrepancies in target truck assignments. The epsilon-constraint method generates a Pareto frontier, illustrating trade-offs between these objectives. Integrating real-time image analysis with optimization significantly improves operational efficiency, enabling adaptive truck-excavator allocation. This study highlights the potential of advanced computer vision and optimization techniques to enhance fleet management in mining, leading to more cost-effective and data-driven decision-making.

15 July 2026 in Mining
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
KHKürşat Hasözdemir
Kürşat Hasözdemir
MMMert Meral
Mert Meral
MKMuhammet Mustafa Kahraman
Muhammet Mustafa Kahraman
Accurate near-real-time granulometry is critical for optimizing energy efficiency in comminution circuits, yet standard optical monitoring systems fail under the harsh conditions of industrial mining. High conveyor velocities induce motion blur, while heavy dust loads occlude particle boundaries, leading to severe under-counting of fine fractions and an overestimation of product coarseness. This paper proposes a novel tracking framework to overcome these limitations. The method integrates a five-frame temporal rolling buffer with a multi-stream augmentation architecture that decouples motion and texture features. Experimental validation on the feed of a secondary conical crusher at an operational facility demonstrates that the proposed framework recovers significant particle data lost by baseline models, correcting the measured D80 and D50 values of the crushed material. This correction reveals a finer true load, enabling more precise closed-loop control of crusher settings and reducing unnecessary energy consumption.