FPGA-Based Mine Traffic Controller with Pedestrian and Machinery Prioritization
Hajar SADOK, Ahlam MOUSSA, Ilham NAIT HIM, Moulay El Hassan EL AZHARI
Abstract. Underground mining is one of the most dangerous industrial settings, due to its inadequate lighting, limited infrastructure, and management of both pedestrian and machinery traffic flow through narrow tunnels. To enhance safety at the intersection of mining vehicles and miners, this paper presents the design and simulation of an FPGA-based traffic control system. The design is highly optimized, occupying less than 1% of the board’s logic fabric, and it is implemented using VHDL. The model relies on a Finite State Machine (FSM) that governs two crossing paths, one for mining machinery and another for mining pedestrians. Default priority is assigned to the mining vehicles, and, upon request, miners are granted timed access. To simulate extreme cases, an emergency override functionality is applied, such that it halts all traffic to prioritize evacuation, and the system employs 7-segment displays and LEDs for countdown timers and status display. The maximum response time for the state transitions is a mere 20 ns, verified through Quartus simulation of the traffic control design. The latter is additionally validated in Proteus, which further confirms the solution as a reliable approach to real-time mine traffic control.
Keywords
FPGA Traffic Control, Underground Mine Safety, Finite State Machine (FSM), VHDL, ALTERA Board
Published online 4/25/2026, 8 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Hajar SADOK, Ahlam MOUSSA, Ilham NAIT HIM, Moulay El Hassan EL AZHARI, FPGA-Based Mine Traffic Controller with Pedestrian and Machinery Prioritization, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 64, pp 469-476, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904091-59
The article was published as article 59 of the book Energy Futures
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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