Advances of optical fiber sensors for coal mine safety monitoring applications

Optic fiber sensors (OFS) offer a number of unique advantages for safety monitoring in explosive and hazardous environment such as underground coal mines. This paper reports on latest development of fiber optic sensors for monitoring methane and other gases, detection of seismic events and application systems for hazard monitoring and early warning of coal mine combustion, roof integrity and seismic activities. The application potential and future trend of OFS research for coal mine hazard detection and prevention are also discussed in the paper.