Mining Project: Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) Applications in Underground Coal Mines

Research Summary

This pilot project had one research aim: to answer the question of what existing and emerging technologies are available for mine-wide monitoring and control systems in underground mining environments and the inherent benefits and limitations of those technologies.

The nation’s approach to health and safety has historically been reactive in the sense that some health and safety regulations and mandates have been passed as a result of tragic mining accidents. An example of this is the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act (MINER Act) of 2006, passed as a result of several mining accidents where tracking of and communications with underground personnel were severely limited. While this reactive approach has led to the development and implementation of highly impactful safety interventions and safety practices, there currently exists a technological revolution that can shift the paradigm towards a proactive approach based on preventative methods.

Several industries have started exploring the concept of monitoring and controlling virtually limitless, critical environmental parameters through a centralized network system that consists of a large number of connected objects embedded with “smart sensors.” Advanced connectivity of devices, sensors, equipment, and systems is the core of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), which refers to a number of technologies and research disciplines that enable the Internet to, in effect, reach out into the real world of physical objects. Technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID), wireless communications, real-time localization, and wireless sensor networks now find more and more applications in daily life.

While the IIoT has been explored in several industry sectors to provide intelligent networks for advanced monitoring and controlling, introducing this emerging concept into the mining industry presents challenges due to the uniqueness of the mine environment. This project investigated technologies, used in other industries and in mining, to determine the feasibility of adopting IoT concepts into the underground mine environment. The research identified some of the knowledge gaps and possible solutions to leverage IIoT technologies to enhance health and safety in mining.