Wireless Robotics Networks for Search and Rescue in Underground Mines

To ensure the safety of miners, reliable and continuous monitoring of underground mine environment plays a significant role. Moreover, such a reliable communication network is essential to provide speedy rescue and recovery operations in case of an emergency situation in a mine. However, due to the hostile nature and unique characteristics of underground mine workings, emergency response communication and disaster management are very challenging tasks. This chapter presents an overview of evolving technology wireless robotics networks (WRN) which may be a promising alternative to support search and rescue (SAR) operation in underground mine emergencies. The chapter first outlines the introduction followed by a detailed discussion on the current state of the art on WRNs and their development in the context of underground mines. Finally, this chapter provides some insights on open research areas targeting the current wireless research design community and those interested in pursuing such challenging problems in this field.