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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5132 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5132

  To require the Director of the National Institute of Standards and 
     Technology to establish a research initiative to support the 
  development of technical standards and conformance architecture to 
 improve emergency communication and tracking technologies for use in 
  locating trapped individuals in confined spaces and other shielded 
environments where conventional radio communication is limited, and for 
                            other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 22, 2010

 Mr. Matheson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                  Committee on Science and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
  To require the Director of the National Institute of Standards and 
     Technology to establish a research initiative to support the 
  development of technical standards and conformance architecture to 
 improve emergency communication and tracking technologies for use in 
  locating trapped individuals in confined spaces and other shielded 
environments where conventional radio communication is limited, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Mine Communications Technology 
Innovation Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The properties of confined spaces, such as underground 
        mines, and shielded environments, such as high-rise buildings 
        or collapsed structures, limit conventional radio communication 
        capabilities. For instance, in coal mines, very low power radio 
        waves must propagate through dense, absorptive materials. Radio 
        waves also often cannot reach through dense rubble or penetrate 
        multiple stories of concrete and steel.
            (2) The April 2010 coal mine disaster in West Virginia 
        illustrated how available emergency communication and tracking 
        technologies did not function when they were needed most to 
        locate victims of the disaster.
            (3) Developing measurement protocols, technical standards, 
        testing, and verification capabilities can bring greater 
        assurance that emergency communication and tracking 
        technologies used in confined spaces and shielded environments 
        will function as intended in all situations.
            (4) The National Institute of Standards and Technology has 
        significant expertise in developing the measurement 
        infrastructure and other technical capabilities to help 
        stakeholders define tests and standards that ultimately make 
        such technologies more reliable.

SEC. 3. EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION AND TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES RESEARCH 
              INITIATIVE.

    (a) Establishment.--The Director shall establish a research 
initiative to support the development of emergency communication and 
tracking technologies for use in locating trapped individuals in 
confined spaces, such as underground mines, and other shielded 
environments, such as high-rise buildings or collapsed structures, 
where conventional radio communication is limited.
    (b) Activities.--In order to carry out this section, the Director 
shall work with the private sector and appropriate Federal agencies 
to--
            (1) perform a needs assessment to identify and evaluate the 
        measurement, technical standards, and conformity assessment 
        needs required to improve the operation and reliability of such 
        emergency communication and tracking technologies; and
            (2) support the development of technical standards and 
        conformance architecture to improve the operation and 
        reliability of such emergency communication and tracking 
        technologies.
    (c) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Director shall submit to Congress and make publicly 
available a report describing the assessment performed under subsection 
(b)(1) and making recommendations about research priorities to address 
gaps in the measurement, technical standards, and conformity assessment 
needs identified by such assessment.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
        the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
            (2) Federal agency.--The term ``Federal agency'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 4 of the Stevenson-Wydler 
        Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3703).
                                 <all>
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