A HKUST research team comprising Dr Liu Yun-hao and doctorate student Li Mo has developed the world’s pioneering wireless sensor network surveillance system to promote coal mine safety.
The system development has won for this research team the Grand Prize of the Hong Kong ICT Awards’ Best Innovation and Research Grand Award 2007.
The team has introduced some highly innovative features into the system, allowing it to detect and alert irregularities in the coal mine including gas leakage, water seepage and oxygen enriched spots.
For the first time, the system provides data about the environment in the coal mines in case of emergency, facilitating rescue work and allowing more informed decisions on mapping out escape routes.
Assessed by a Grand Judging Panel comprising leading local academics, executive and legislative councilors, the project impressed the panel as deploying “cost effective and scalable application which uses off-the-shelf, reliable and available technologies today… The successful field testing is the result of great cross-border collaboration between the teams from Mainland China and Hong Kong.”
Speaking at a press conference today (Tuesday 29 January 2008) to announce this achievement from HKUST members, Head of Computer Science & Engineering Prof Lionel Ni said, “With this new device developed by HKUST faculty members, we have made a bold and unprecedented stride towards ensuring work safety for coal mine workers in the world, thereby reducing unnecessary losses incurred by coal mine accidents. I must commend our colleagues for a job brilliantly done.”
The project has received significant amount of funding from both the PRC 973 Project and HKSAR RGC Project.
At the 7th International Symposium on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN 2007) held in April 2007 in the United States, the project has won the unanimous applause from the attending experts. It was hailed as forging new grounds in wireless network coal mine monitoring research. The Symposium is one of the most authoritative forums on wireless sensor networks in the world.
Other HKUST winners of ICT Awards 2007 include
Computer Science and Engineering MPhil student Chan Wing Yi, winner of the Best Innovation and Research (College and Undergraduate) Silver Award with her project “Visual Analysis of the Air Pollution in Hong Kong”;
Graduates in Computer Engineering, supported by the Digital Life Research Center of HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School Chan Hong-ching, Henry Lam Man-wa, and MPhil student in Electronic and Computer Engineering Leo Yeung Chi-ho, took away the Best Digital Entertainment (Student) Award with the motion game they developed – Virtual Air Hockey.
All HKUST winners of the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2007 attended a prize presentation ceremony on 21 January 2008. The Grand Award winners, Dr Liu Yun-hao and Li Mo received their prizes from HKSAR Government’s Financial Secretary John C Tsang.
The Hong Kong ICT Awards were established in 2006 to recognize and promote the outstanding achievements of local ICT professionals and organizations.
The Hong Kong ICT Awards 2007, supported by The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and organized by seven local ICT Industry Associations, comprise seven categories in Hong Kong’s priority ICT areas. One Grand Award was granted in each category and an “Award of the Year” was selected by the Grand Judging Panel from the Seven Grand Award Winners.
For media enquiries, please feel free to contact :
Luk Kam Wing
Tel: 2358 6306
Email: kluk@ust.hk
May Cheung
Tel: 2358 6103
Email: mccheung@ust.hk
