Sept. 25, 2008 – Congressional mandates in response to public concern about mine safety have expedited safety innovations. John Gargasz, Director of Business Development for Innovative Wireless Technologies (IWT) provides some details.

Your company has been involved with solutions in the mining industry. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

GARGASZ: We are part of a team that has been awarded contracts by the government to respond to the Miner Safety Act passed by Congress, to provide a communication and location capability for miners during normal operation of the mine, but in particular, during a crisis event like occurred in West Virginia and in Utah.

Did the bill result after all the recent mining disasters?

GARGASZ: It started after the West Virginia accident, which was about two or three years ago. And it was just reinforced by the more recent Utah accident.

And is there any particular type of mine it affects or is it relevant to all mines?

GARGASZ: Well, there are a couple of different types of mines. There is open pit mining, where you are not tunneling per se. And then there is the kind of mining where you are digging tunnels. Here in the United States, coal mines are the primary market.

Walk us through the process of what technology you are supplying in this case and how that is used by the miners?

GARGASZ: Sure. There are a number of competing technologies; and some of the things that are especially important in the mining are redundancy and robustness, especially in the case of a mining accident. For example, leaky co-ax has been historically a method of communication in a mine, but, in a mine collapse, that co-ax will get severed.

Is that as in co-ax cable, leaky co-ax?

GARGASZ: Yes, leaky coax, it is used in subways, for example, so your cell phone will work in a subway. But not very robust in the event of an accident.

You need to have something, in the event of a disaster, that is very redundant and very robust when things go wrong.

I think that many of us non-mining experts think of mines as essentially deep tunnels and shafts that either go down or through rocks and mounds. What frequency do you use? Wi-Fi, HF, UHF? Is there interference because of the rock?

GARGASZ: You are absolutely correct. Mines are one of the most RF communication-unfriendly environments around. Part of the IWT team’s secret sauce is both the mesh technology and protocol we apply and the frequency of which we operate.

Which frequency?

GARGASZ: We are not talking about it right now. As these things get deployed in mines, I am sure the word will get out; but, certainly we try and keep the lead as long as possible.

Our mesh protocol does voice over mesh in an extremely challenging environment, with multiple "hops," and we are 100% redundant. We actually have twice the range required. In case a node in the mesh goes down, you can hop one node further and still get communications.

If there were a mining collapse and you had a solid wall of coal or rock or both, how do you get the data from the people on the other side of the collapse?

GARGASZ: There is obviously a reduction in performance if you get a full blockage. But, in many events, or many mine architectures, you have vent holes where you will get promulgation up through those vents holes.

So you would have nodes in vent holes as well as perhaps the main shaft?

GARGASZ: Yes, it is full network deployment, so it is not just a single point type application. As many exits that you have for your RF to the surface, the better. With how our system is designed, if you can just get a very narrow gap in the rock – and we do get some promulgation through the rock – you are going to have successful communications.

Would the data then be intended to transfer to every available node, rather than through one pre-programmed sequence of nodes?

GARGASZ: Yes. It is an ad hoc self forming mesh network. Whatever node or path or route is available, is the path that the signal will take. That is a very powerful feature. Also, with our software on the backend, when any event occurs, we know at that point in time exactly where everybody is at.

What does every miner have that would identify where they are, or who they are?

GARGASZ: The easier way to think about it is, is like a handset that you would use on a construction side or you would typically be using a security forces.

Kind of like a walkie talkie plus.

GARGASZ: It is a walkie talkie, yes, plus a lot of extra features. That is typically what they would be carrying. We also have the availability for them to just wear like a beacon or a pager device.

There is a segue here into the operational efficiencies in the mine. There is a need within the mine, especially with the cost of energy, to increase productivity. So we can not only support walkie talkie and handsets and beacons and pagers, but, also sensor mesh nodes which are doing condition based maintenance on the equipment within the mine.

So you do monitor the equipment, as well as the individuals?

GARGASZ: First and foremost, what we are focusing on, and our requirement specifies in response to the Congressional act, is the miner communication and location. The secondary priority is then to look at the efficiencies.

But there are some things that have been identified as opportunities, for example on the conveyor belts to monitor the bearings. And making sure that conveyor belt does not go down, because every fifteen minutes they are not pumping coal out of the mine costs a lot of money.

It's not just being able to give advance indications of mechanical failures; also sensors for gases and what-not – just overall mine monitoring, mine safety.

Now does your company do the installation of this network or do you work with some sort of local or specialized partners on that?

GARGASZ: Yes, we have been very fortunate to work with a team. L3 Communications is the point of our team. And then there are four or five other partners, Pyott-Boone is a longtime installer and maintainer of equipment in mines, as well as a service arm and a field arm.