A Newly Developed Computer Graphics System for the Display of Underground Mine Environments

A newly developed computer graphics software package designed for the display of remote sensor information, such as underground air quality data, on a color graphics video screen is discussed. The software also has trending, predictive ventilation, contaminant, and mine fire capabilities. It was developed at Michigan Technological University under US Bureau of Mines contract H0212024. The package utilizes a unique system of display indexing that provides a simple, efficient method of recalling a series of mine schematics, detailing an underground operation and an alarm display and acknowledgment scheme that provides an effective method for identifying problem areas that may exist in the mine network. The package also permits the display of trend plots, which an operator uses to review a particular sensor value as a function of time over a period of several days. The software package has been written in Fortran and has been designed for use with a specific hardware system, although it can be modified for other hardware installations.