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Los Alamos Lab develops radio for underground communication

By Sue Vorenberg
Tuesday, January 1, 2008

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With a rumble and crash, the mine's ceiling collapses, severing communications and trapping miners in a spot hidden from rescuers.

Frenzied teams helplessly try to figure out where the trapped workers are - before the miners run out of air and hope.

This has been a familiar scenario in recent years - most recently in August at Utah's Crandall Canyon mine - but it doesn't have to be that way.

A new technology out of Los Alamos National Laboratory will let miners communicate using wireless radio signals from deep in the ground, researchers say.

With the infrastructure in place, they'll be able to tell rescuers where they are and how they're doing, so rescuers don't waste time searching in the wrong places, said Dave Reagor, a Los Alamos scientist who's developing the technology.

"The basic problem you frequently have is other communications systems in mines are like phones," Reagor said. "They rely on a cable, and they can be destroyed by fire or collapse. But with this, if you have trapped miners you can get right through."

The underground radio uses the same type of technology that lets cell phone providers pack large amounts of data into small signals and lets digital TV pack extra information into TV shows, Reagor said.

That means you can send a lot more data - such as voice communications - over a weak radio signal.

"In the past it was a lot harder to put a lot of data into a radio signal, but the advances in digital cell phone technology have made it possible for us to do this," Reagor said.

So far, Los Alamos scientists have tested the technology successfully to 550 feet in a horizontal mine. But Reagor says eventually, with relay stations, it will be able to penetrate much farther.

"We think it can go 1,000 feet," Reagor said, adding that most mines are 200 to 500 feet deep, although some reach 1,000 to 2,000 feet.

Vital Alert, a Canadian company, is already working on a commercial version of the product for miners and emergency workers.

The cost should be similar to other communications systems currently used in mines, said James Hackwood, a senior manager.

"They'll be comparable to any other device of that nature," Hackwood said. "Modern digital circuitry has really enabled us to configure a cost-effective solution."

A system would consist of a series of underground stations that function sort of like cell phone towers. The towers weigh about 50 pounds and are connected to 30-pound radios that workers can transport from room to room, Reagor said.

"They could deploy them in designated refuge areas as miners move along," Reagor said. "It's sort of like a moving city in a mine. They move and they can take this thing with them."

The technology could also be used in traffic tunnels or large city buildings to help in disasters.

"This can be used any place that two-way radios work," Hackwood said.

Eventually, cell phone providers could add it as a push-to-talk radio feature that would let customers communicate in elevators or tunnels, he said.

In a situation like the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the technology could save the lives of emergency workers.

"On Sept. 11, hundreds of firefighters got killed because they were in a radio blackout area and didn't know what was going on," Reagor said. "In large buildings, radio frequencies don't work. They get lost."

Underground radio could prevent that - so emergency workers get information they need right away, no matter where they are, he said.