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 commu-
nication and tracking technologies did not function 
when they were needed most to locate victims of the 
disaster. 
(3) Developing measurement protocols, tech-
nical standards, testing, and verification capabilities 
can bring greater assurance that emergency commu-
nication and tracking technologies used in confined 
spaces and shielded environments will function as in-
tended in all situations. 
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(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 emer-
gency 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 appro-
priate 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 commu-
nication and tracking technologies; and 
(2) support the development of technical stand-
ards and conformance architecture to improve the 
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operation and reliability of such emergency commu-
nication 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 describ-
ing the assessment performed under subsection (b)(1) and 
making recommendations about research priorities to ad-
dress gaps in the measurement, technical standards, and 
conformity assessment needs identified by such assess-
ment. 
(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). 
Æ 
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