Mine Monitor IoT Based Environmental Oversight System

Abstract

Mining is an essential sector for economic growth and industrial development; however, it often poses significant environmental challenges, including air and water pollution, soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. The Mine Monitor IoT Based Environmental Oversight System is proposed as a comprehensive solution designed to ensure sustainable mining through advanced environmental monitoring, data analytics, and automated oversight mechanisms. This system integrates modern technologies to continuously assess and manage the environmental impacts associated with mining operations. The system’s user interface provides a dynamic dashboard accessible to multiple stakeholders, including mine managers, environmental officers, government regulators, and local communities. Through visualizations, automated alerts, and report generation tools, stakeholders can monitor real-time environmental performance, assess compliance with environmental standards, and make informed decisions to minimize ecological impact.

Introduction

The Mine Monitoring: IoT-based Environmental Oversight System (MMEOS) is an advanced safety and surveillance system designed to continuously monitor environmental conditions in mines. Mining environments are hazardous due to risks such as harmful gas emissions, high temperature, humidity, poor ventilation, flooding, and structural instability. The system uses IoT technology to provide real-time monitoring, improve worker safety, reduce accidents, and support sustainable mining practices.

Motivation and Objectives

Traditional mine safety methods rely on periodic manual inspections, which can be slow, risky, and prone to human error. The proposed system aims to:

• Monitor gas concentration, temperature, humidity, and fire hazards in real time.
• Provide visual inspection through cameras.
• Transmit sensor data to a centralized server or cloud platform.
• Display environmental conditions, alerts, and historical data on a dashboard.
• Improve emergency response, preventive maintenance, and mine infrastructure monitoring.

Problem Statement

The project focuses on detecting dangerous conditions such as high temperature, humidity, and harmful gas leakage in mines. When unsafe conditions are detected, alerts are sent to the mine control room through an IoT-based application, enabling timely action to prevent accidents.

Future Scope

Future enhancements include:

• Integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for predictive hazard detection and automated decision-making.
• Environmental sustainability features such as carbon emission monitoring.
• Adoption of 5G and Edge Computing for faster, low-latency communication and emergency response.

Components Used

The system is built using:

• ESP32 Development Board (main controller with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth)
• MQ-135 Gas Sensor (air quality and harmful gas detection)
• DHT11 Sensor (temperature and humidity monitoring)
• Flame Sensor (fire detection)
• IR Sensor (worker counting)
• L298N Motor Driver (motor control)
• Relay Module (siren activation)
• 4 BO Motors with Wheels
• 12V Siren
• OLED Display
• Power Supply and Wiring

Working Principle

The ESP32 continuously collects data from all sensors. If harmful gas, smoke, flame, or excessive temperature is detected, the relay activates a siren to warn workers. The IR sensor counts workers entering the mine, and after five workers enter, a 20-second timer starts before a siren reminds them to exit. The monitoring robot can also be controlled remotely via Bluetooth commands.

Results

The system successfully:

• Detected dangerous gas concentrations using the MQ-135 sensor.
• Accurately monitored temperature and flame conditions.
• Triggered the siren immediately when hazardous situations were detected.

Conclusion

1) The hazardous nature of rescue missions in mines, compounded by factors such as explosions, toxic gases, and lack of environmental awareness, necessitates innovative solutions for enhancing safety and effectiveness. The introduction of a monitoring robot system designed for remote sensing of mine environments represents a significant step forward. 2) This multifunctional sensor-equipped system enables distant sensing, providing crucial data to alert rescuers of potential dangers and improve decision-making during rescue operations. Moreover, the development of this robot system serves as a valuable reference for the advancement of future search-and-rescue systems, ultimately contributing to the protection of lives in hazardous environments.

References

[1] MOKHINABONU, M. (2019). OpenSource Hardware and Software based Low-Cost Environmental Monitoring System for Underground mine (Doctoral dissertation, ?????). [2] Porselvi, T., Ganesh, S., Janaki, B., & Priyadarshini, K. (2021, May). IoT based coal mine safety and health monitoring system LoRaWAN. In 2021 3rd International Conference. [3] Jayasree, M. B., & Kiruthika, M. D. (2021). Iot based underground coalmine safety system. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1717, No. 1, p. 012030). IOP Publishing.n Signal Processing and Communication (ICPSC) (pp. 49-53). IEEE. [4] Nageswari, C. S., Sangeetha, C. G., & Yogambigai, V. B. (2018). IoT based Smart Mine Monitoring System. Int. J. Electron. Electr. Comput. Syst, 7, 690-695. [5] Manasa, T., Kadali, J., Syed, N., Raju, G. K., & Jamal, K. (2022, November). IoT based Coal Mine Safety Monitoring and Warning System. In 2022 Sixth International Conference on I-SMAC (IoT in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud)(I-SMAC) (pp. 11 15). IEEE.

Copyright

Copyright © 2026 Prathamesh Paygude, Yash More, Sushil Shelke, Prof. Kavita Mahajan. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.