Funds will be used to develop advanced mine safety equipment and the deployment of a mine safety system in an active coal mine.
This technology can save lives by quickly finding personnel and ensuring vital communication links are maintained in extremely harsh conditions due to mine explosions and collapses.
This project will also enhance economic development in Southwest Virginia where innovative communications technology will be researched, tested and developed.
Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology's (CIT) intends to take a previously developed wireless mesh backbone and augment it with additional sensors for the enviornmental monitoring system that CIT is protoyping with Fiscal Year 2009 funds.
Specifically, the FY2009 project addresses carbon monoxide sensors. With FY2010 monies, CIT will complement the system and develop dust monitoring, gas sensing, vibration sensing, and/or other sensors.
The wireless mesh backbone now supports tracking and communications; CIT's work would enable it to provide more support for the safety of miners and emergency personnel.
CIT will serve as the program manager and advocacy lead on the project, and will partner with several other private and public sector entitites for this project. Innovative Wireless Technology, located in Lynchburg, Va., will assist CIT with the advanced communications; Pyott-Boone Electronics in Tazewell, Va., will be researching and developing monitoring and mining industry communications solutions.
In the public sector, the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, and Virginia Tech will also be assisting with an array of needs associated with the project.
Fund will be used to develop a program that trains displaced workers in the latest skills related to Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
GIS has recently been recognized by the federal government as a field in which significant growth is expected in the next few years. GIS technology is used for scientific investigations, resource management, asset management, archaeology, environmental impact assessment, urban planning, cartography, criminology, geographic history, marketing, logistics, and other purposes.
This project will provide the capacity for the Northern Virginia Community College to create online GIS courses to be used at other campuses in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). With these funds, VCCS campuses across Virginia would be able to offer a GIS Studies Certificate or an Associate Degrees with a GIS specialization.
This project involves funding for workforce training services. Specifically, the funds would be used for intructional design services; web design services; content creation services; and program review and evaluation.