Design and Implementation of a Zigbee-based Coal Mine Safety Monitoring and Evacuation System

Abstract

Coal mine environments cause safety issues due to the presence of harmful gases, alteration of environmental conditions, and some possible structural disturbances. To address such issues, continuous monitoring and swiftresponse systems with emergency alerting are necessary to protect workers. In this paper, a Zigbee module-based system is used because it provides reliable communication in an underground atmosphere, and it supports monitoring, alerting, and evacuation by detecting unsafe conditions in real-time. The required data is transmitted wirelessly between the Zigbee transmitter and receiver. The system uses various sensors to monitor important parameters within the mine's network. A GSM module is integrated to alert the higher authorities by forwarding alert messages. Additionally, an emergency evacuation process is incorporated under dangerous conditions. At the surface unit, the data received is transferred to the main controlling network through a Zigbee receiver for observing and managing the network. The proposed system combines sensing, communication, and automated response, detects dangerous conditions, and produces a timely response to reduce risks in coal mines. It does this by bringing sensing technology, wireless communication, and automatic response in one system. The intention of this arrangement is to make coal mines safer by detecting hazards and responding quickly.