The Sago Mine disaster of 2006 is one example of how not knowing the location of miners trapped underground delays rescue efforts, with tragic results. The objective of this project is to demonstrate the utility of combining surface deployed, high-performance seismic sensors with innovative analysis techniques to promptly detect and locate trapped miners when they, like the Sago miners did, hammer roof bolts to signal their location. The proposed solution to this problem requires two technical innovations: superior sensor sensitivity to pick up human-generated impulsive seismic signals originating deep underground, and cutting edge analytical tools and processing techniques that detect and locate the source by using signals from multiple sensors on the surface. Using traditional seismic sensors and analysis techniques, Quantum Technology Sciences, Inc. (QTSI) has demonstrated the ability to locate underground sledge hammer strikes on a concrete floor to within 50 feet using shallow-buried sensors placed more than 1,000 feet away. For this project, QTSI will use its superior Q-sensor and combine it with more advanced analytical techniques that are routinely used to accurately locate regional and teleseismic events hundreds and thousands of miles away. This combination is expected to provide extraordinary detection and location accuracy for local underground signals, like hammer blows on a mine roof bolt. QTSI is fortunate to have enthusiastic support from a university research mine and an active coal mine for conducting this research. The QTSI research team will deploy sensors at the Edgar Experimental Mine in Colorado to collect signals generated by hammering roof bolts in various locations in the mine. The data will be processed to determine optimum sensor configurations for best detection and greatest location accuracy for mines with a maximum overburden of 500 feet. A second data collect at the coal mine at Twentymile, Colorado will determine system detection limits and location accuracy for maximum overburdens greater than 500 feet. Data analysis from both mines will be used to determine effects of design parameters on system performance. The advanced analytical techniques used are a combination of algorithms referred to collectively as the Multiple Event Processing (MEP) """"""""pipeline,"""""""" a key part of which are sophisticated algorithms that can detect weak signals characterized by a low signal-to-noise ratio, and reduce location uncertainty by correcting for systematic bias without the need for detailed geophysical velocity models. The results of these analyses will then be used to design and build a prototype system for demonstration at a third mine to be determined in coordination with NIOSH. When the 20-month project is complete, QTSI will have demonstrated a prototype system that detects and locates human-generated seismic signals underground to provide rescue teams unprecedented capability for locating entrapped miners. ? ? ?
This research project is most relevant to the health and safety of underground miners as direct support to rescue operations after an accident or incident. Whenever miners become trapped underground, finding them quickly and knowing their location accurately are vital to affecting a successful rescue. Even if the miners' whereabouts are believed to be known, positive confirmation by detecting and locating the hammering signals that miners are trained to perform makes it a certainty.
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