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First Wireless Phone Call from inside Coal Mine Enabled by Rajant Corporation, Hannah Engineering, and Sanmina-SCI Collaboration.


Three Partners Demonstrate Wireless Communications wireless communications

System using radio-frequency, infrared, microwave, or other types of electromagnetic or acoustic waves in place of wires, cables, or fibre optics to transmit signals or data.
 and Tracking Solution for Coal Mines

MALVERN, Pa. -- Rajant Corporation, a leading provider of portable networking solutions, Sanmina-SCI, a leading Electronics Manufacturing Services Electronic manufacturing services (EMS) is term used for companies that design, test, manufacture, distribute and provide return/repair services for electronic component and assemblies for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).  (EMS) provider, and Hannah Engineering, a professional consulting engineering firm specializing in civil and mining applications, announced today that they have collaborately demonstrated the first ever wireless phone call from inside a coal mine to outside POTS extensions. Calls were made to several different endpoints in multiple states from 1,000 feet underground, at a National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health, see there

NIOSH Recommendations for Safety & Health Standards

Agent  NIOSH REL*/OSHA PEL  Health effects
) facility near Pittsburgh, PA.

The collaborative project was in support of statewide rulings from West Virginia West Virginia, E central state of the United States. It is bordered by Pennsylvania and Maryland (N), Virginia (E and S), and Kentucky and, across the Ohio R., Ohio (W). Facts and Figures


Area, 24,181 sq mi (62,629 sq km). Pop.
 and the new 2006 federal regulations, included in the June 2006 Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act, to improve the preparedness and effectiveness of emergency responders in coal mines. Both the state legislation and the MINER Act require mining companies to install improved wireless communications and tracking solutions to provide optimal safe working conditions for miners.

"Safety within mines relies on having the most current communication solutions," said Bob Schena, Chairman, Rajant Corporation. "The combined solution from Rajant, Hannah Engineering, and Sanmina-SCI offers a breakthrough in how miners can communicate, and be tracked, within a mine. This solution will go a long way to make sure our mines will be safe for our workers."

The system will be deployed as Hannah Engineering's Wireless Integrated Technology System (WITS), which provides a complete end-to-end solution (jargon) end-to-end solution - (E2ES) A term that suggests that the supplier of an application program or system will provide all the hardware and/or software components and resouces to meet the customer's requirement and no other supplier need be involved.

Compare: turn-key solution.
 for improved communications within coal mines. The WITS system utilizes the networking capabilities of Rajant and Sanmina-SCI to offer wireless communications and personnel tracking from within the mine by connecting a host of disparate communication devices.

Rajant BreadCrumb See breadcrumbs. [R] technology was deployed in the mine, which delivered instant, portable, mesh-networking capabilities to VoIP phones See IP phone and softphone.  within the mine. BreadCrumb[R] units were hand deployed, thereby enabling the network to move as the miners moved. The networking components also facilitated tracking of miners. In operational situations, should an emergency situation arise, miners would easily be located within the mine by using Rajant's BCAdmin network monitoring The term network monitoring describes the use of a system that constantly monitors a computer network for slow or failing systems and that notifies the network administrator in case of outages via email, pager or other alarms.  software.

Sanmina-SCI's Defense & Aerospace Systems Division provided their REDI-COMM[TM] system, which interfaced with the BreadCrumb([R]) network and allowed the miners communication devices to be easily linked with emergency radio systems, other critical communication networks, and POTS phone lines. The Defense & Aerospace Systems Division will soon offer a specialized version of their MP1 phone system that will be uniquely configured and certified for underground use.

"We have been working on an integrated solution for almost one year," said Dewayne Hannah, President of Hannah Engineering. "Only through the collaborative effort of our work with Rajant and Sanmina-SCI could this breakthrough in a communication solution for mines be possible. By delivering a complete system, coal mines can more quickly meet the new regulations, improve safety, and have better response mechanisms in the case of an emergency. We are looking forward to commercial deployment of the solution and to making our mines safer."

About Rajant:

Rajant's BreadCrumb([R]) Wireless LAN A local area network that transmits over the air typically in the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz unlicensed frequency band. It does not require line of sight between sender and receiver. Wireless base stations (access points) are wired to an Ethernet network and transmit a radio frequency over an area  technology is a portable, tactical broadband wireless See wireless broadband.  network for deployment into and around a situational area. BreadCrumb([R]) technology provides voice and data communications data communications, application of telecommunications technology to the problem of transmitting data, especially to, from, or between computers. In popular usage, it is said that data communications make it possible for one computer to "talk" with another.  across an ad-hoc, self-healing network A network architecture that can withstand a failure in its transmission paths. See SONET ring.  using link layer routing that can communicate with IP based client devices such as laptops, PDAs, video cameras, satellite terminals, networked radios and sensor devices. More information about the company is available at www.rajant.com.

About Hannah Engineering

Hannah Engineering is a West Virginia Corporation located in Elkins, West Virginia Elkins is a city in Randolph County, West Virginia, United States. The community was incorporated in 1890 and named in honor of Stephen Benton Elkins (1841-1911), the U.S. Senator from West Virginia. . Since 1978 the company has provided professional Consulting Engineering services to Public and Private Entities, specializing in Civil and Mining applications. The company's vision is to provide solid, workable designs and projects at reasonable fees. Hannah Engineering maintains a staff of resident Professional Engineers, Draft Persons, Survey Crews, Inspectors, Computer Specialists, Electronic Engineers, Certified Miners, Electricians and Administrative Personnel. More information regarding the Company can be found at www.hannahengineering.com.

About Sanmina-SCI

Sanmina-SCI Corporation Sanmina-SCI Corporation (NASDAQ: SANM), is a global electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider headquartered in San Jose, California that serves original equipment manufacturers in technology-related industries such as communications and computer hardware.  is a leading electronics contract manufacturer serving the fastest-growing segments of the global Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) market. Recognized as a technology leader, Sanmina-SCI provides end-to-end manufacturing solutions, delivering superior quality and support to large Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) primarily in the communications, defense and aerospace, industrial and medical instrumentation, computer technology, multimedia and consumer, and automotive sectors. Sanmina-SCI has facilities strategically located in key regions throughout the world. Sanmina-SCI's Defense & Aerospace Systems Division is a recognized leader with over four decades of experience in providing a full range of engineering and design services in support of internal product development and its global defense and aerospace customers. The state-of-the art engineering, design, and manufacturing provided by Sanmina-SCI's Defense & Aerospace Systems Division in the REDI-COMM and the MP1 systems make these products ideal candidates to provide highly durable, reliable, and interoperable The ability for one system to communicate or work with another. See interoperability.  solutions to WITS and the mining community. More information regarding the Company is available at www.sanmina-sci.com/das.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Business Wire
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2007, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Business Wire
Date:Jan 9, 2007
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