One of MST’s products, the PED (personal emergency device), has been heavily focused on in the US following the mine disasters in West Virginia and the subsequent investigations highlighting the need for better communication systems in the country’s coal mines.

However, as the PED is already a well-established product in Australia it will not be the focus at QME 2006, giving MST the opportunity to highlight a number of other key communication technologies it has been developing and installing more recently.

A key technology to be featured at QME 2006 is the ImPact Digital Communication System that allows a mine’s LAN to be taken seamlessly underground.

ImPact is based on the 802.11b/g IEEE protocol that has been accepted worldwide as a standard high data, high bandwidth communication medium. This wide use means that many peripheral devices – such as PDAs, VoIP phones and IP Video Cameras – are readily available to use with the ImPact infrastructure.

Though mines installed limited 802.11 systems underground to prove the potential of the technology, the use of off-the-shelf wireless access points (WAPs) and fibre switches has made it impractical to install extensive systems underground.

Simply installing off-the-shelf WAPs in metal boxes does not address the requirements of implementing digital communications underground. Hence, MST has focused on a number of requirements in the design, manufacture and installation of the ImPact System to make it truly mine worthy, including purpose-built WAPs that include wireless access cards and 4-port fibre switches (click on ImPact WAP picture to enlarge).

The WAPs are designed to operate from 24VDC rather than the typical 110/240VAC required by off-the-shelf units for safe and simple installation underground.

A specially developed and manufactured composite cable allows simple plug and play connections of fibre and power to each access wherever they are required. This eliminates the need for terminating fibre or trying to use CAT5 cable underground, both of which are impractical and technically limiting in setting up an extensive system underground.

MST now has nine ImPact Systems operating in mines in Canada, the US, Australia and Mongolia. The high bandwidth digital signal has allowed a number of high data applications to be used at these mines that had not been previously possible. These applications include:

VoIP Phones for two-way communications within and outside the mine;

Wireless Data links for a range of sensors, such as motor drives and gas detectors;

Remote, wireless programming and control of IP-based PLCs; and

Interface to vehicle diagnostic and payload systems for real-time gathering and use of the data.

Also on display at QME 2006 will be MST’s TRACKER Tagging System. Though TRACKER has been available for over a year, it is only recently that a number of coal mines have started installing the system. In addition to offering significant safety benefits, the major driver of these installations has been asset control, particularly of vehicle fleets and major implements.

The Integrated Communications Cap Lamp (ICCL), the coal-approved version of the ICCL, will also feature. The ICCL uses lithium-ion battery technology to reduce the size and weight of a cap lamp with PED, to just one-third that of the standard lead-acid cap lamp. The ICCL can also include an active Tag and two-way radio if required.

MST said it looks forward to the opportunity to explain the company’s technologies and their applications at QME 2006 – Stand 6023.