Company senior vice-president David Clardy noted that the phrases "high tech" and "wireless technology" are two that have been used rather loosely as of late, especially since the establishment of the MINER Act of 2006.
“There's too much emphasis on the word 'wireless'," according to Clardy. He said Matrix's key phrase "post-accident operation" is a much more important indicator of performance.
“The phrase 'high tech' for the mining industry, and underground coal mining in particular, should denote an emphasis on post-accident operation [and] post-accident operation should include 'high-tech' features such as redundancy, hardening, and obviously the ability to function after underground power is removed," said Clardy.
Also, companies' definitions of wireless can vary, and even with those varied outlooks on the technology, wireless does not always equal "high tech".
“Our product is designed to have up to four redundant connections [a true wired ‘mesh'], each of which can be ‘hardened’ if needed by burial or by strategic placement," Clardy said, adding that the system's power and data is provided by the redundant cabling to ensure capabilities even if underground power is lost.
Clardy also said that some other technologies in the communication and tracking market have been adapted from other areas of industry for use underground. He said Matrix's METS system had been built from scratch, specifically for underground mining.
Its development focused on the outlines of current US and West Virginia mandates, including being intrinsically safe (IS), as well as the anticipated regulations included in the still-pending S-MINER Act.
“It is designed to operate post-accident via a wired redundant mesh configuration and can be hardened by cable burial or cable placement [and] to be less maintenance-intensive than other systems as power and data are provided via high-bandwidth coaxial cable, thus no batteries or power connections are needed underground in many mine plans," Clardy said.
Matrix's METS system has the interests of both everyday worker safety and emergency needs in mind in its design, which Clardy notes is a significant advantage over other products in the sector that handle only one or the other.
That feature was one brought to its attention in design by the input it sought from the mining industry. Matrix also said its current installations of METS systems aids it in gaining practical experience for which it can improve the system.
“At present over 5000 US coal miners use METS tags every day," Clardy said, noting that while it worked with several mines for testing in states across the US, it is gaining insight every day into polishing METS' capabilities through the installations it has in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Mexico.
Looking forward, Clardy said Matrix is reaching out in several directions within the communications market, particularly with regard to rescue efforts.
It is completing development, for example, of a high-gain handheld locator that mine rescue teams can take underground to pinpoint the location of missing workers – much like a metal detector finds the exact location of magnetic material.
Matrix is also developing a precise proximity protection system for continuous miners and currently is awaiting IS approval from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration on a wireless carbon monoxide (CO) sensor that will allow it to develop a full line of atmospheric monitoring sensors.
Each, Clardy noted, will perform much like the tags of METS and can carry indicators of atmospheric changes on the system's 1.0 or 2.1 tracking infrastructure to the needed personnel.
