2023 2nd International Conference on Vision Towards Emerging Trends in Communication and Networking Technologies (ViTECoN) | 979-8-3503-4798-2/23/$31.

00 ©2023 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/VITECON58111.2023.10157165

IoT BASED SMART HELMET FOR

WORKERS IN MINES USING LoraWAN
Sneha k Surya Prakash B
Dept.of Electronics & Jayanth Reddy S Dept.of Electronics &
Communication Engineering Dept.of Electronics & Communication Engineering
Velagapudi Ramakrishna Communication Engineering Velagapudi Ramakrishna
Siddhartha Velagapudi Ramakrishna Siddhartha
Engineering College Siddhartha Engineering College
Vijayawada,India Engineering College Vijayawada,India
[email protected] Vijayawada,India [email protected]
[email protected]

Ganesh P
Dept.of Electronics &
Communication Engineering
Velagapudi Ramakrishna Siddhartha
Engineering College
Vijayawada,India
[email protected]

Abstract—IoT has these days increased throughout Bluetooth. The propose system also keep track whether
different applications which brought big attention to its worker put on the helmet or not. The sensors are
construction. Mining Industry is the one of the backbone deployed to sense and discover the extent of sensed gas.
industries for a country. The primary aim of this paper Further, on every occasion the sensed gas exceeds the
is to ensure safety of workers in mines by predicting specified quantity, vibration feedback and alarm will
mining hazards with the help of sensors and to develop a be generated and by alerting the miners we can prevent
reliable mining environment monitoring system for the upcoming hazards. Gases like methane and carbon
control room using LoraWAN technology which is very monoxide are colourless and odourless. Humans
efficient for long range applications. The sensor’s data
cannot smell these gases with naked nose. It is very
is transmitted to The Things Network server via Lora
difficult to know the concentration of gas content in
WAN gateway using LoRa shield. The data log is stored
and represented graphically with help of ThingSpeak. In underground mines. Without proper detection system
any Industry worker’s safety is the major concern so, the miner couldn’t able to move to safe area within the
developed helmet will monitor hazardous activities time. For this we need to develop an alerting system
consisting of temperature, humidity and concentration which alert the miners and it should also display the
of harmful gases. When the system come across any concentration of gases content. We all know mining is
abnormal situations it alerts the worker with the help of done in a noisy environment where worker couldn’t
vibration feedback as mining environment is very noisy able to hear the buzzer sound when the gases
it is not preferable to use buzzer system. The helmet also concentration exceeds particular threshold value. The
comes with Wear detection facility. best way to alert the worker by alerting them with
vibration feedback. We can even control the intensity
Keywords—LoRa, LoraWAN, Things Network, of vibration by using PWM technique. The Existing
ThingSpeak, Smart helmet, industrial application, Gas system doesn’t provide vibration feedback as it is very
detection system, Vibration feedback, Wear detection. important in noisy environment and Wear detection is
not implemented in most of the systems which is
I. INTRODUCTION another essential thing to know whether worker is
The mining industry can be classified as the most wearing helmet or not. It alerts and remind the worker
vital utility for any advanced country. It provides to wear the helmet. Y. I. Khamis et al., (2022) proposed
extraction and discovery of underground materials. an “IoT based worker safety helmet using cloud
The main objective of this helmet is to alert the workers computing technology” which is based on Wi-Fi
in mine before any hazardous event occurs and it also wireless communication system. The system is
sends the sensor data to The Things Network server by developed in two major sections, in underground
using LoRaWAN so, that the control room can access station section all sensors are interfaced and the data is
the mining conditions remotely. The existing works transmitter by a Wi-Fi transmitter. At base station
couldn’t provide long range data transmission as they section a Wi-Fi receiver collects the data and sends to
used short range technologies like ZigBee, Wi-Fi, ThingSpeak. In this paper they used Wi-Fi technology

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 which has short range and it is very difficult to provide III. COMPONENTS
internet at underground in mines [1]. Tarek
Eldemerdash (2020) proposed “IoT based smart A. DHT11 Sensor
helmet for mining industry application” which is based The DHT11 is used for measuring environmental
on ZigBee Technology. The main objective is to Temperature and Humidity. DHT11 is a low-cost
estimate environment conditions like temperature, sensor. Its temperature accuracy is about ±2℃ and
humidity, gases concentration in mines using sensors. humidity accuracy is about ±5%RH. The Sensor
The sensed data was to be sent to control room through initially is in sleep mode by interrupting we get the data
ZigBee transmitter. On the output side a GSM module via serial communication. The range of values it can
is used to send the message and was configured in measure are 20-90%RH and 0-50 ℃. It is shown in fig
Node Red with JavaScript code. In this paper they used 2.
ZigBee technology which is having short range just
like Wi-Fi and it also consumes more power when
compared to LoRa technology but it has high data rate
[2]. Kumaravel A (2021) proposed “IoT mining
tracking and worker safety helmet” is based on IoT
module. IoT module is a small electronic device
embedded in objects and things connected to wireless
networks to send and receive data [3]. Rahabul Islam
(2022) proposed the “LoRa and server -based home
automation using the internet of things (IoT)” which
provides long range communication and it is power Fig. 2. DHT-11 Sensor
efficient. This paper is based on LoRaWAN which is
used for home automation and remote controlling. [4]. B. MQ-9 & MQ-135
Punam S. Tajane (2020) proposed IOT MINING MQ-9 & MQ-135 are low cost gas sensors used in
TRACKING & WORKER SAFETY HELMET which
industrial applications. Both sensors consist of a trim
is based on PIC controller it is implemented for point-
to-point communication using ZigBee. At one end pot which is used to adjust the sensitivity of the sensor.
ZigBee transmitter sends the data to ZigBee receiver of These sensors can measure CO, CH4, CO2 and other
another end. This paper uses point to point gas. For CO gas it has a measurement range of 10 ppm
communication using ZigBee which is not effective for to 1000 ppm with sensitivity of 6 RSP (Relative
mining applications [5]. Sensitivity to Poisoning) per ppm. It is shown in Fig 3.

II. BLOCK DIAGRAM

The helmet is interfaced with 3 major systems.
They are Sensor network, Alert system and LoRa
module. In sensor network the sensors used are MQ-9,
MQ-135, DHT-11 and IR sensor. In Alert system a
buzzer and a LRA vibrator are used. The sensor’s data
is transmitted to IoT cloud server via a LoRa gateway
by a LoRa transmitter at end node. The data is
displayed in TTN (The Things Network) and we can Fig. 3. Gas sensor
monitor the data graphically in ThingSpeak. It is
shown in Fig.1. C. LRA Vibrator
Linear Resonant Actuator is compact and durable
actuator, it generates vibration feedback. The LRA is
controlled by a potentiometer and using PWM the
intensity of LRA is controlled. LRA vibrators are
important because they have ability to provide haptic
feedback, which is tactile feedback that allows users to
interact with digital devices in an intuitive way. It is
shown in fig 4.

Fig. 1. Block diagram

Fig. 4. LRA Vibrator

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 D. Arduino UNO G. LoRa Shield
Arduino UNO is a development board which is Lora Shields are readily available for Arduino Uno
extremely utilized in embedded applications. It the shield which is used, is a transceiver it comes with
operates with 16 Mega Hertz frequency. It has large Semtech SX1276 chip which can able to transfer LoRa
community support to resolve any problem. It also packets to reach extremely long ranges at low data-
contains variety of communication interface. It is rates. It consumes very less power with high coverage.
shown in fig 5. The LoRa shield shown in the fig 8 is used as LoRa
transceiver to send the sensor data to LoRa gateway.
These LoRa shields can also be used in point-to-point
communication systems.

Fig. 5. Arduino UNO

E. LCD display
Fig. 8. LoRa Shield (SX1276 chip)
Liquid Crystal Display is well used for embedded
applications everywhere. For 16x2 LCD it consists of H. LoRa Gateway
16 columns and 2 rows. It contains 8 data pins and 3
LoRa Gateway extends the LoRa network to LoRa
control pins for latching, read/write and register
Wide Area network. It provides internet to the LoRa
selection as shown in fig 6.
network which enable users to access data remotely
anywhere and anytime. These Gateways are
categorized into two types indoor and outdoor
gateways, again these can be categorized based on
channels single channel and multichannel. Based on
countries certain frequency is allocated for
communication. In India we use 865 MHZ - 867 MHZ
frequency for communication. It is shown in fig 9.

Fig. 6. LCD Display

F. IR Sensor
IR Sensor is used for remote sensing applications.
It consists of a LED which emits IR radiation and a
photo diode to receive the reflected IR waves. We can
adjust the sensitivity with the help of trim pot. In our
application it is used to check whether the worker put Fig. 9. LoRa Gateway
on the helmet or not. It has obstacle detection range of
IV. WORKING PRINCIPLE
2cm to 20cm and detection angle of 35 degrees. It is
shown in fig 7. The system is developed in two essential sections.
One is helmet section and other is IoT cloud interfacing.
In helmet section we have sensor network and alerting
system. DHT-11 sensor monitors Temperature and
humidity, Gas sensors sense the environmental gas
concentrations, IR Sensor is used in Wear detection to
know whether worker wore helmet or not, and LCD to
display the Sensor values and alert message. Based on
threshold values the alert is generated.At first, after
power on the system checks whether miner put on
helmet or not if not an alert is generated by the buzzer.
Fig. 7. IR Sensor Then it starts reading the concentration of gases (CO2,

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 CO, CH4) if any abnormality is observed then it alert V. SCHEMATIC
the worker with continues vibration feedback until an The helmet section without LoRa module is
acknowledgement from worker is taken. And it again
tested initially on Proteus simulation software which
start sensing the data. In mines it is difficult to hear a
buzzer sound so we interfaced a LDR vibrator for is shown in below figure 11, all sensors are interfaced
alerting the worker. The system contains a with Arduino uno the sensor values are given
potentiometer to control the LRA vibration intensity. explicitly. MQ-9 and MQ-135 sensors consist of
The potentiometer is connected to analog input of logical toggle button for testing purpose, the
Arduino Uno. The Atmega328p micro controller simulation results are generated as expected.
contains inbuilt ADC which is of resolution 10-bit. By
using PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) the intensity is
adjusted. The intensity of Vibration can be controlled
using a potentiometer based on worker need and
requirement. Now, the environmental conditions of the
mine have to be monitored at control room, so the
sensor’s data is transmitted to The Things Network IoT
cloud via a LoRa gateway by a LoRa transceiver
(SX1276). At first, we need to configure our gateway
by providing internet access, the gateway contains the
TTN server address by default. We need to register our
gateway on our TTN web interface and we should Fig. 11. Schematic diagram without LoRa module
create our application and add our end node to our
application. VI. RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS
When end node starts transmitting the LoRa The following figure 12 shows the Helmet with the
packets as shown in fig 15, LoRa gateway receive the circuit representing the prototype. Temperature and
packets as shown in fig16 and they are forwarded to Humidity values are obtained by using DHT11 sensor
corresponding application as shown in fig 17. We can it collects the information of both the temperature and
also specify the format of data to be displayed on TTN humidity. Displaying the Carbon dioxide ,carbon
sever. In TTN we could not able to store the data, we monoxide and methane gas values to know the content
can only access the live data. To access the previous of methane ,carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide
data, we need to interface TTN with ThingSpeak so using MQ-9 and MQ-135 Sensors.
that it can store data and we can monitor data
graphically (shown in fig 18-22) which is very helpful
to analyse the mining conditions. We can interface
multiple end nodes at different locations (worker
helmets) for the same gateway so that we can cover
maximum area and mining conditions at that area. The
following flowchart in fig 10 clearly explains the
working of the system step by step.

Fig. 12. DHT-11 Sensor output

The Helmet sounds buzzer in case if the worker not

wearing the helmet. The corresponding alert message
is also showed on the LCD in the below figure 13. The
IR sensor is placed inside the helmet and the sensitivity
of IR sensor can be adjusted by trim pot which is given
on the IR sensor.

Fig. 10. Flow chart Fig. 13. Wear detection alert on LCD

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 The intensity of LRA vibrator is adjusted by
potentiometer as shown in the figure 14. The
potentiometer input is given to the controller which has
inbuilt 10-bit ADC. Based on Potentiometer input on
time is decided. The intensity of LRA vibrator is
controlled by PWM .

Fig. 17. Sensor output on The Things Network cloud platform

The received LoRa packets are forwarded to TTN

server, the gateway is already configured to send data
to TTN Server. The received data is formatted
Fig. 14. LRA Vibrator
accordingly by java script on TTN as shown in the
above figure 17.

Fig. 15. Sensor network data is transmitted by using LoRa

transceiver
Fig. 18. Graphical representation of data on ThingSpeak
In the above fig 15, the sensors are interfaced with
In TTN we cannot maintain data log, so we
LoRa transceiver without helmet and other actuators.
interface TTN with ThingSpeak which stores the data
and represent the data graphically. The authorities can
access mining condition remotely with help of TTN
and ThingSpeak.

Fig. 16. LoRa Gateway receiving incoming LoRa packets from

end node

Fig. 19. Temperature Output on ThingSpeak

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 access the mining conditions remotely with help of IoT
cloud platform The Things Network and ThingSpeak.
LoRa technology is very helpful to transfer the
sensor’s data to LoRa Gateway which is placed very
far from the workers, unlike any other technology
cannot provide this type of long-range coverage with
power efficiency. Hence, this would be beneficial to
the miners present inside the mine and ensures the
safety of the workers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to
Fig. 20. Humidity Output on ThingSpeak
our guide K SNEHA (Assistant Professor) for her
valuable support and guidance throughout the project.
We would also like to thank Dr. D. VENKATA RAO
(HOD), professor and head of the ECE department, for
his support and providing us with necessary resources
to complete the project. We are grateful for their
constant motivation and encouragement, which kept us
on track and focused on our goal.
REFERENCES
[1] Y. I. Khamis et al., Mahmoud Alawi, Ramadhani, A., Waheed,
M (2022). “An IoT Based Worker Safety Helmet Using Cloud
Computing Technology”, Tanzania Journal of Engineering
and Technology (Tanz. J. Engrg. Technol.), Vol. 41 (No. 1),
May 2022.
[2] Tarek Eldemerdash, Raed Abdulla, Vikneswary Jayapal,
Fig. 21. CO concentration in ppm on ThingSpeak Chandrasekharan Nataraj, Maythem K. Abbas, “Iot Based
Smart Helmet for Mining Industry Application”, International
Journal of Advanced Science and Technology Vol. 29, No. 1,
(2020), pp. 373 - 387.
[3] Kumaravel A, Ajith K, Sravani K, Lakshmi Sreenivasa Reddy
L, “IOT Mining Tracking and Worker Safety Helmet”,
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and
Communication Engineering, Vol. 10, Issue 5, May 2021,
DOI 10.17148/IJARCCE.2021.10579.
[4] Rahabul Islam, Md. Wahidur Rahman, Rahmina Rubaiat, Md.
Mahmodul Hasan, Md. Mahfuz Reza, Mohammad Motiur
Rahman, “LoRa and server-based home automation using the
internet of things (IoT)”, Journal of King Saud University –
Computer and Information Sciences 34 (2022) 3703–3712.
Fig. 22. CO2 concentration in ppm on Thing Speak [5] Punam S. Tajane, Shrutika B. Shelke, Sonal B. Sadgir,
Archana N. Shelke, “IOT MINING TRACKING &
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in mines this concentration is higher than normal Issue: 04, Apr 2020.
concentration. Long exposure of these gases can cause [6] Kim, S.M., Choi, Y. & Suh, J. (2020) “Applications of the
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VII. CONCLUSIONS [7] Savitha, G., Deepak, N. A. & Deepak, D.J. (2021) “Data
Acquisition Using IoT to Monitor Coal Mining Environment”,
To finally conclude, A Smart helmet has been In 3rd International Conference on Integrated Intelligent
designed in order to help the workers from the Computing Communication & Security (ICIIC 2021): 158-
166. Atlantis Press
hazardous situations if any, an efficient data
monitoring system is developed using LoRaWAN to

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