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Wireless Paging System for Underground Mines

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Abstract

Underground working in different horizons with intricate haulage and traveling roadways is very complex in nature. Wired communication is presently the most adopted technology in Indian underground mines. Also, the cellular network cannot be used for communication due to the non-availability of the coverage link. So, addressing of key-personnel to pass on the information and assign task becomes a challenge for mine management. Implementation of wireless paging systems with routers and/or repeaters at strategic locations can instruct manpower for the jobs as well as obviate the impending mishap, if any, at remote locations of the mine. This paper presents a design of a wireless paging system for underground mines which consists of a two-way alphanumeric paging system operating on a ZigBee based wireless network and a paging terminal software. This paging system can be used to unicast or broadcast messages to all the pagers working in the RF network. A successful field trial of the same is also conducted to devise a node placement strategy for the routing units with prototype pagers in the shaft and traveling roadways at 400 and 500 m horizon of a deep underground coal mine.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Director, CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (Dhanbad, India) for his encouragement and support as well as permitting the authors to publish this paper. The views expressed in this paper are that of the authors and not necessarily of the organization they belong.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad, India

    P. K. Mishra, Subhash Kumar & S. K. Mandal

  2. National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India

    Amit Swain

  3. Indian Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India

    Subhash Kumar

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  1. P. K. Mishra
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  2. Amit Swain
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  4. S. K. Mandal
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Correspondence to P. K. Mishra.

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P. K. Mishra, Amit Swain, Subhash Kumar, and S. K. Mandal

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

The initial version of this paper in Russian is published in the journal “Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii. Radioelektronika,” ISSN 2307-6011 (Online), ISSN 0021-3470 (Print) on the link http://radio.kpi.ua/article/view/S0021347021010027 with DOI: https://doi.org/10.20535/S0021347021010027

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Mishra, P.K., Swain, A., Kumar, S. et al. Wireless Paging System for Underground Mines. Radioelectron.Commun.Syst. 64, 14–25 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0735272721010027

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S0735272721010027

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