When it hits the market this spring, Jannatec Technologies’ smart helmet will function a lot like the modern smartphone – one communications device that incorporates multiple uses.
But the wearable gear is being designed for use deep underground to provide miners with higher visibility, radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging, proximity detection, biometrics monitoring, photography and video capabilities, and more.
“We try not to think of it as a helmet,” said Mark Burnett, an account representative with Jannatec. “We try to think of it as a platform that’s going to offer (mining) operations different capabilities and solutions that they may need to fit their unique problems, which is why it’s going to be a multi-faceted platform.”
Over the last few years, Sudbury-based Jannatec has invested millions of dollars in developing the technology, which is one half of a smart helmet/cooling vest combo. The project is the company’s contribution to the Ultra-Deep Mining Network (UDMN), a Sudbury-conceived initiative partnering private enterprise with the research community to find solutions to ultra-deep mining’s most pressing issues.
In its first phase, the helmet will be available with high-visibility LED lights and RFID tagging capabilities to help keep track of underground workers. Next, Jannatec will add a camera and the ability to connect to a mine’s proximity detection system. By its third iteration, the helmet will have more communications capabilities such as sending and receiving phone calls, photos, and videos.
The camera can be used to record underground incidents in real time, conduct compliance safety checks, or even assist a worker in figuring out problems like an equipment breakdown. A worker can take a photo or video, transmit it to surface, and an aboveground counterpart can look at the image to help find a solution.
The device is powered by a rechargeable battery and holds its charge through an entire shift.
Mining companies will be able to tailor the helmet to their needs by choosing which functions they want in the device, and they can upgrade by simply swapping out the helmet’s brim for a newer version. Jannatec will also work with a company to solve its pain points.
“We know from our experience in the industry that every single operation is unique,” Burnett said. “Sometimes they tend to have different preferences or different requirements at a mine.”
Companies are transitioning away from the long-used leaky feeder system and making way for more modern, sophisticated networks like Wi-Fi and LTE, allowing for more communications options, said Jannatec’s president, Wayne Ablitt.
“So it’s not just communications between the helmet,” Ablitt said. “It’s a system that we’re going to try to tie in to whatever communications system that mine is currently using.”
The cooling jacket, which is still in the design phase, will monitor a worker’s biometrics, such as their temperature and heart rate, alerting them to potential heat stress and transmitting their information to surface, while simultaneously cooling down their body.
“We need something that can cool them and notify them when they're going into that heat stress, so they know when to rest,” Ablitt said. “They can be more productive through their whole shift and they can work longer in the day.”
Eventually, all the data and biometrics information from the jacket will be worked into the helmet, and Jannatec anticipates making the device hands-free – everything will be done by voice command.
Burnett said the company will first launch the helmet in Sudbury with a handful of trusted clients before going global.
On average, it takes about 10 years before new technology proven in the real world is adopted by the mining industry. But that gap is quickly shrinking as mines look to use data to improve safety and increase production, he noted.
Sudbury, as a world-class mining hub with vast industry expertise, is the ideal proving ground for some of that new technology, Burnett said. And when the industry is ready, Jannatec will be waiting.
“I think we want to still be at the forefront of being able to offer people those services,” Burnett said. “But, more importantly, we want to be the ones offering the technological devices that allow people to leverage that infrastructure for the production and optimization of the business.”
The Drift magazine, a new publication from Northern Ontario Business, features profiles on the people and companies making important contributions to the Northern Ontario mining service and supply industry.
