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Axcess International, working with Foundation Telecommunications and Architron Systems, has recently provided a live demonstration of a mine communications, tracking and sensor system designed to increase safety in underground mining operations.
Micro-Wireless ID tags attached to personnel in the mine were tracked as they moved throughout the mine's tunnel. The system also provided real-time location information for miner tags following a simulated mine cave-in.
Interest in miner safety increased following the Sego Mine disaster in West Virginia and prompted The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006, requiring miner safety improvements be implemented by mid-2009. The Act's provisions require wireless two-way communications and an electronic tracking system be implemented to permit those on the surface to locate persons trapped underground.
According to Axcess, the demonstration showed how the combination of a wireless network design for tunnels combined with micro-wireless personnel tagging technology offers a viable combination of technology and can provide the necessary safety outlined by the Act.
Foundation Telecommunications and Architron installed the wireless tunnel backbone communications system for the live test, staging personnel in shafts at varying intervals. With automatic "self-healing" links and "mesh" multi-node communications paths, the system overcame obstructions and elevation changes in the mine that normally foil traditional Wi-Fi communications systems.
The AX5 wireless access point equipment was based on Architron's XRF technology, which was designed for rugged environments. It is capable of carrying voice, email, video and miner position data to the surface reliably. The XRF solution is frequency and standards agnostic, completely flexible and upgradeable, allowing rapid deployment of wireless, ultra-high-bandwidth communications networks. XRF has the ability to embrace all common wireless standards (both licensed and unlicensed).
The miner locating capability was based on Axcess' micro-wireless ID tags, which come in multiple form factors and can be carried by the miners in various ways, including being attached to miners' helmets. The tags turn-on automatically as miners enter the mine and provide regular identifying transmissions to embedded receivers within the AX5 access point package.
Transmissions are in the 433 MHz frequency band, and real-time location data reveals where each miner is at all times, and the tags include options for sensing and panic alarms as enhanced safety features. The software includes pre-programmed alarm detection filters that automatically alert first responders to a disaster and provide a visual display of the miner's location.
Sources: Axcess International Inc.; Foundation Telecommunications Inc.; Architron Systems Inc.
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