Wireless Body Area Networks for future mining applications

采矿环境中的无线通信技术将在未来几十年内对矿山运营产生重大影响。事实上，矿业公司需要即时了解生产、质量、周期时间、机器状态和其他重要的运营变量，以实现最佳和有效的运营。随着传感技术的发展，越来越多的传感器被应用于煤矿井下，用于测量一氧化碳浓度、甲烷浓度、气流、温度等重要的操作和环境参数，其中很多应用都涉及到穿戴式传感器，即所谓的无线体域网（WBAN）。WBAN是一种基于射频（RF）的无线网络技术，其将节点与人体内、人体上或人体周围的传感器互连。该技术已经在个人健康护理、娱乐、军事、消防和许多其他领域中找到了许多应用。因此，WBAN可用于及时向矿工显示有毒气体水平或将信息传递到指挥站。这允许快速检测潜在问题，从而简化决策，从而提高采矿安全和健康。为了将高效的WBAN优化用于无线地下矿山信息系统，需要一种合适的通信技术，如5G。因此，可穿戴设备的几种应用可以考虑在采矿业，以支持生产，健康和安全管理，以及环境质量监测。 拟议的研究计划旨在通过为第五代无线体域网（WBAN）设计和实施新的先进毫米波MIMO天线系统，研究和开发地下矿山无线通信的创新解决方案。因此，该系统可用于未来的智能采矿，使用5G先进技术在采矿所涉及的系统之间进行连接和通信，确保高效可靠的操作。

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.