Wireless sensor network

South Africans mines have lived for over hundreds of years and each year accidents occur that leave mine workers injured or worse dead. The extraction of resources such as Gold, Platinum, Coal and Diamond have their own disadvantages such as mine workers being trapped underground, the failing of rooftops, the inhalation of dangerous gases such as methane and lastly the explosions of the mines. This study aims to implement an early accident detection model on the mines for the safety of the mine workers. The model consists of multiple sensors in a wireless sensor network platform, the processing unit and the ZigBee technology for more efficient communication and lastly a tracking unit for real time localization of the miners. The proposed model adopts the wireless sensor network, redundancy system, real time monitoring, ZigBee technology and real time tracking. The adopted system is tested by performing measurements in two environments that is a controlled environment at the laboratory, and a pilot system representing a real working environment. The tests and analysis of data are done during 1 month and, it is possible to conclude that the sensors are able to gather real time info.