Smart Helmet-Based Personnel Proximity Warning System for Improving Underground Mine Safety

Abstract

A smart helmet-based wearable personnel proximity warning system was developed to prevent collisions between equipment and pedestrians in mines. The smart helmet worn by pedestrians receives signals transmitted by Bluetooth beacons attached to heavy equipment, light vehicles, or dangerous zones, and provides visual LED warnings to the pedestrians and operators simultaneously. A performance test of the proposed system was conducted in an underground limestone mine. It was confirmed that as the transmission power of the Bluetooth beacon increased, the Bluetooth low energy (BLE) signal detection distance of the system also increased. The average BLE signal detection distance was at least 10 m, regardless of the facing angle between the smart helmet and Bluetooth beacon. The subjective workload for the smartphone-, smart glasses-, and smart helmet-based proximity warning system (PWS) was evaluated using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration task load index. All six workload parameters were the lowest when using the smart helmet-based PWS. The smart helmet-based PWS can provide visual proximity warning alerts to both the equipment operator and the pedestrian, and it can be expanded to provide worker health monitoring and hazard awareness functions by adding sensors to the Arduino board.

Sensing Technology Applications in the Mining Industry—A Systematic Review

“…The first step was to analyse the country of origin for each study, as is displayed in Figure 2 . The most represented country was China, with five studies [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ], followed by Italy [ 33 , 34 , 35 ] and Korea [ 36 , 37 , 38 ], with three studies each.…”

“…Kim et al [ 37 ] developed a smart helmet that sends proximity warning signals to pedestrians, workers, and equipment operators, which is a considerable improvement regarding safety [ 72 ]. Heavy machinery has a “blind spot” zone that can be fatal to workers on foot, and this danger can be easily reduced through proximity warning signs or alert systems [ 2 ].…”

“…Overall results displayed a great concern related to safety. In the literature, two reference localisation systems were found, with technologies providing warning signs for pedestrians, workers, and machine operators [ 2 , 37 ]. Additionally, other fields are being tested, such as haulage optimisation systems, road condition monitoring, and autonomous equipment, to mention a few.…”

A proof of concept application of sensing technologies for managing proximity hazards on construction sites

“…As demonstrated by the experimental results, the system is able to track the real-time movement of both a worker as well as of a construction machinery, in indoor as well as outdoor scenarios. With the respect to similar proximity warning solutions used in construction sector based on Bluetooth technology [19] [20] [21] [22], ultrasonic [23] or LoRaWAN devices [24], the proposed solution exploits the use of UWB radio to reach a localization accuracy on the order of 30 cm, at an update rate up to 50 ms, as indicate by the technology provider [25] and by scientific literature Error! Reference source not found..…”

Signal Lights-Based Light Vehicle Safe Movement on Underground Mine Ramps

“…They developed a conceptual model and framework of the integrated IT assisted system. Researchers in [11] improved underground mine safety using Bluetooth beacon and helmet-based wearable personnel proximity warning system to prevent equipment-pedestrian collisions in underground limestone mines. Topological navigation and localisation to autonomous Load-Haul-Dump (LHD) vehicles operating in underground mines was applied to achieve precision and safe movement of the vehicles [12].…”