A New York-based company with strong Utah ties said Wednesday that it has developed technology that allows wireless communication throughout a mine, a breakthrough that may help make mining safer.

Global Security and Engineering Solutions, a division of L-3 Communications, said Wednesday that in recent testing for the L-3 Wireless Mesh Mine Communications system, a frequency of 900 megahertz provided a high level of reliable, clear and audible communication throughout all areas of a mine, even around corners deep in a mine. L-3's Communications Systems-West division is based in Salt Lake City and employs 2,300 people in Utah.

The tests were conducted at the International Coal Group's Sentinel Mine in Philippi, W.V., as part of a research and development contract for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The testing focused on the system's wireless mesh nodes and found that the 900 megahertz frequency was "the sweet spot on the frequency spectrum," said Dan Erndle, L-3's program manager for the wireless mesh communications system.

The frequency "provides the best propagation distance for communication around corners and around crosscuts," he said.

Miners carry radios that provide them with voice and data communications and give data on the miners' location. The radio signals are transmitted through "fixed mesh nodes" that send the signal to "gateway nodes" that are outside the mine, above ground. A mine operations center, also located above ground, monitors the network and tracks the position of all personnel within the mine.

The signal will always be relayed by the shortest route possible, Erndle said, and automatically adjusts its path.

The system is scalable to any size mine, according to Erndle, with the range on the fixed mesh nodes set to greater than 2,000 feet of radio coverage. He added that in the event of a collapse, the system would automatically detect the communications failure and reconfigure itself to find a working signal to the outside of the mine.

The system must have multiple access points from outside the mine in order to function optimally.

"Typically, our design will include two or more access points to the mine through a bore hole or other opening," Erndle said.

Costs will vary depending on mine size, but Erndle said expenses for L-3's mesh systems should come in at just under $2,000 per node.

Initial development of the system began in May 2007. Final testing is scheduled for this April, with a full-scale demonstration in August. L-3 said the system could be available for use in underground coal mines by spring 2009.