Safe Wireless Integrated Wi-Fi Technology Systems for Mining Industry

 


Improving mine safety is a continuing issue. Here we see MSHA Assistant Secretary David Lauriski as he helps pull a rescued miner to safety. Nine miners were trapped in the Quecreek mine when water from an adjacent mine flooded it. MSHA helped with the successful rescue of all nine men.


Hannah Engineering, a leader in producing cutting edge underground mine safety technology, today announced that it has teamed with Proxim Wireless Corporation, to deliver Hannah Engineering's wireless communications system for underground mines, known as Wireless Integrated Technology Systems (WITS). WITS is a fault-tolerant, self-healing communications and tracking system used within mines to send and receive voice, video, data, and location information from the miners, foremen, equipment, and maintenance crews.

Hannah Engineering will use Proxim's ORiNOCO AP-4000M wireless mesh access points in their WITS underground communication system. The functionality, strength, and reliability of the AP-4000M are the backbone of the WITS system.

"The intrinsically safe AP-4000M is significant to WITS because it enables fault-tolerant wireless communications in a mine. The Proxim access points enable a more reliable and economical means of communications than other alternatives, including relying on a wire," said Dewayne Hannah, president of Hannah Engineering.

WITS is one of the few underground communications systems to be completely wireless, using Wi-Fi technology. The system uses several mesh access points within the mine to send and receive information from the miners, foreman, and maintenance crews. Hannah Engineering designs WITS so that if one access point were to become damaged during an accident or event, the signal could be redirected to another access point for uninterrupted communication. This capability is enabled by Proxim's self-healing mesh technology, which automatically re-routes traffic in the event a node in the network goes down.

"Having grown up in coal country, I am acutely aware of the dangers that miners face every day," said Bert Williams, VP of marketing for Proxim Wireless. "I am delighted that Proxim's technology is being used to make mines a safer working environment."

Hannah Engineering's WITS, including the Proxim AP-4000M, obtained approval from the State of West Virginia's Office of Miners' Health Safety & Training (MHST) for use in underground mines in June 2007. The company has submitted WITS to the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for intrinsic safety certification, and anticipates that the system will be certified to be intrinsically safe by MSHA in November 2007. WITS will become available to be used within West Virginia mines approximately two months after it is certified.

Hannah Engineering is working to make mines a safer workplace for many West Virginians by offering Wi-Fi technology that will enable miners to have safer working conditions and provide peace of mind for miners' families.