NIOSH Project - Methane in Mines

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) approached MESH to help them detect methane in coal mines to improve safety for miners and to comply with Federal law.  NIOSH was in the process of developing a remote methane sensor based on IR laser diodes but needed an algorithm to convert the raw measurements into a map of the methane concentration in the mine.

MESH responded to this request by applying the tomographic techniques used in CAT scans by the medical community to the NIOSH data. The resultant concentration map indicated if the amount of methane exceeded the 1% threshold mandated by Federal law. MESH successfully demonstrated to NIOSH that the instrument they were building would be a viable method of measuring methane in coal mines.