Localization and tracking of unmanned vehicles for underground mines

Since the time of industrial revolution, there is an ever-growing demand for the increase in the energy and resources. There are several techniques and methods to extract resources from earth, one such method is mining. There have been a lot of incidents since the advent of mining. Explosions, temperature variations, suffocation due to inhalation of harmful gases have taken the lives of many. Henceforth, the safety of mine workers must be the number one priority. There are several precautions taken such the use of personal protection equipment such as helmets, safety goggles, torches etc. Mines are required to have adequate lighting and ventilation systems, but in most mines, use of such systems are not feasible. But these precautions do not ensure the complete safety of the workers. Working in an unexplored, unpredictable environment even with many precautions is fraught with dangers. A technique for measuring temperature and detecting harmful gases at these sites by using an unmanned rover is proposed. The rover is mainly based on SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) technique which is utilized to simultaneously localize itself and map its movement on the desktop located at the base station. The rover uses sensors for obstacle avoidance and transmits temperature and gas detected data to the desktop wirelessly. Infrared sensors are used to detect obstacles and the data is continuously transmitted to the base station desktop using the ZigBee transmitter. Using the data received, the mine is mapped and the mine conditions are continuously monitored.