Innovative Wireless Technologies Inc. (IWT) was awarded a funding opportunity through the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as part of a solicitation for the Development and Demonstration of Mine Safety and Health Technology. IWT responded to Focus Area 4 of the solicitation: Big Data Analytics and Machine Learning Techniques. The solicitation states that the mining industry needs a more proactive approach to risk management that focuses on using health and safety leading indicator data to help identify, predict, and control risks. The objective of this research is to identify and improve quantification of safety and health risks through the use of big data analytics and machine learning techniques on large datasets.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for IWT to use its analytics platform to enhance the safety and health of mines,” said IWT director of engineering, Swathi Prabhu. “This award represents a continuance of IWT’s proven record of providing innovative ways to improve the safety of miners in a challenging environment.”
The software being developed under this program, the Mine Safety Data Analytics Engine (MSDAE), will analyze a multitude of data sources ranging from SENTINEL tracking and sensors data to shift reports and third-party data from PLC networks. This data passed to the analytics engine will run through machine learning algorithms to predict potential safety and risk scenarios. The results of the analysis will be presented to end users in easy-to-use visualization tools on tablets, smartphones and laptops. IWT will collaborate with mines to test and deploy the software, where these visualization tools will enable decision makers to more easily identify risks and patterns using interactive charts, graphs and dashboards, all tailored to the customer and job profile.
The duration of the project is 18 months, beginning in early September and ending in March 2023.
