Wireless Body Area Networks for future mining applications

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Wireless communication technologies in mining environment will have a significant impact on mine operations in the coming decades. In fact, mining companies need instantaneous visibility on production, quality, cycle times, machine status, and other important operational variables in order to achieve optimum and effective operations. With the recent advances in sensing technologies, more and more sensors are being deployed in underground mines to measure important operational and environmental parameters such as carbon monoxide concentration, methane concentration, airflow, temperature and so on. In this area, many of the envisioned applications involve body-worn sensors, resulting in so-called wireless body area networks (WBAN). WBAN is a radio frequency (RF)-based wireless networking technology that interconnects nodes with a sensor in, on, or around a human body. This technology has found many applications in personal health care, entertainment, military, firefighting, and many other fields. Hence, WBAN could be used to display the toxic gases levels to the miner or to deliver the information to the command station, in a timely manner. This allows a fast detection of the potential problem and hence eases the decision making, which improves the mining safety and health. In order to optimize of using an efficient WBAN into wireless underground mine information systems, a suitable communication technology as 5G is needed. As a result, several applications of wearable devices could be considered in the mining industry to support production, health and safety management, and environmental quality monitoring. The proposed research program aims to the investigation and development of innovative solutions for wireless communication in underground mines through the design and implementation of new advanced mm-wave MIMO antenna systems for fifth-generation wireless body area network (WBAN). Thus, this system could be employed in the future smart mining that uses 5G advanced technology to connect and communicate between systems involved in mining, ensuring efficient and reliable operation.