Executive Summary

Harsh environments are those in which on one hand it is intrinsically difficult to provide communications, and on the other hand extreme or abnormal conditions following an accident or disaster, which can both destroy system components and radically alter environmental conditions in which the system must continue to operate. There can be a host of harsh environments like oil fields, gas fields, forests, chemical factories and underground mines etc. This proposal focuses on underground mine environment although the solution will be extendable to other harsh environments as well. Safety assurance in the underground mine environment is a very peculiar and intricate task. A large number of human lives have been lost and huge financial losses have been sustained over the years because of the accidents in the different harsh environments especially in mines. Therefore, monitoring of the mines becomes very crucial in order to avoid accidents and to launch rescue operations in case of an accident.

Pakistan is a country very rich in natural resources and consequently there are a lot of underground mines. Kheora salt mine, copper mines and thar coal mines are just a few examples. However, these underground mines are prone to accidents because of the extremely high temperatures, and potential loss of integrity of the structure holding the mine. These accidents (mainly collapses) result in a loss of valuable human lives on one side and disrupt the process of extraction on the other. Furthermore there is a large impact on the industry on which the extracted minerals are used as a fuel. The aim of this project is to build a test bed for the monitoring of harsh environments. It will be used for monitoring the presence and/or concentration of toxic gases within harsh environments, monitoring structural integrity, detecting the collapse in case of accidents and localizing the collapses as well. The aim is to build a test bed for these applications. Upon successful completion of this project, the team would be able to design and implement a test bed for harsh environment monitoring and accident detection. Furthermore, the aim is to build indigenous and cost effective technology.