The approval comes after a 17-month examination of the system by the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

“The approval of the MSHA is a high hurdle for all products to be introduced to the US market. With this approval, we have taken a huge step forward on the US market," Becker vice-president of sales Max Brinckman said.

Becker obtained approval for both its VHF and UHF technology, as well as for the pertinent power supply.

Since Becker has already obtained approval for use of the systems in West Virginia, and expects to receive approval for Pennsylvania shortly, it can now install the system without delay.

Becker said with the approval, it was now also possible to have supplementary system components certified within the scope of an accelerated procedure.

Michael Bruno, managing director at the South African Becker subsidiary Becker R&D, expects the approval of all components within a few months.

Becker has performed the certification procedure with its US partners Pillar Innovations and SMC.

In addition, Pillar Innovations is also seeking approval from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. NIOSH is currently evaluating the system in the Loveridge reference mine in West Virginia together with Pillar Innovations.

The Becker leaky feeder technology is based on a transmissive antenna cable that can send and receive signals to a direct vicinity.

In addition to pure communication, the leaky feeder technology can also assume other message transmission tasks such as automation plants and tagging-and-tracking or collision-avoidance systems.

Due to its upwards-compatible cables, the Becker leaky feeder systems are also designed for 2.4GHz WLAN technology, as well as for future applications with higher bandwidth.

“With the new double and triple entry layout, the leaky feeder technology also provides opportunities to supply mines having several parallel access points with affordable wireless communication," Becker said.

“In view of compatibility, VHF and UHF systems can be combined and previously installed cables in the mine can thus be integrated.

“In the process, the installation of a double or triple entry system is considerably cheaper than several independent systems."

Becker said a double entry system costs about 60% of the purchase of two independent systems. In the case of a triple entry system, the costs lie at only 43%.

Becker offers a wide portfolio of firedamp-protected products, from overhead monorails and high-voltage transformers to WLAN and VoIP systems underground.

The company has about 1300 employees worldwide and in 2008 will achieve turnover of about €200 million.