In mining, sensor data is critical for safety and automation systems and plays a paramount role in the efficiency of mining and material handling. The rapid expansion of the use of sensors and wireless technologies in the mine environment is evolving mines to become interconnected Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), where data from hundreds of nodes are processed centrally then made available to different teams for correct management. Nanotron has created a range of modules based on their Chirp radio technology that combine bi-directional wireless data with precision location.

They provide a modular approach to system deployment with simple software interfaces. These allow mining system integrators to rapidly construct powerful mining applications that bring both safety and return on investment productivity rewards to their mining customers. Small radio modules are deployed with sensors to report data and location to the server in real time, using the same wireless network. These radios transmit to fixed readers spaced every 300 to 500 m along tunnels and use the existing networking infrastructure as the data backbone.

Inside the control room a server is used to run the nanotron location engine software (nanoLES) which allows the tags and sensor nodes to be located. In addition it provides a standard interface for all sensor data to be received and for data and messages to be pushed back to the tags. The central Mine Safety and Productivity Application is created by the system integrator and is customized according to the functionality requirements of the mine location. An application programming interface provides system integrators with access to both the tag location data and sensor data from wireless nodes. It allows to also receive and push data to the nodes or tags.

The data gathered by the Central Mine Safety and Productivity Application is made available to all the different teams involved in running the mine via 2D or 3D graphical user interfaces. There are several emerging applications for wireless sensor data to be combined with precise location information. Tying the physical location of the data source automatically to the data provides radically new insight with regards to managing the safety plan, automation and the production work-flow. Any problems can be identified immediately together with their physical location. Support staff located closest to a particular problem can be easily identified and paged using the nanotron radio technology to investigate the problem and fix it. Temperature or gas sensors can be connected to the wireless network in the same way if they are fixed or mobile, and their location data is calculated and displayed along with the real time data stream, providing seamless sensor data with location data.

Nanotron provides a series of low-power modules ready and supporting software for the purposes of embedded location and two-way data transmission. It provides a modular approach to system development with software interfaces. “Nanotron’s embedded location platform consists of chips, modules and software that enable precise real-time positioning and concurrent wireless communication. The ubiquitous proliferation of interoperable location platforms is creating the location-aware Internet of Things.”