

A Cheap, Ubiquitous Earthquake Warning System - simas
http://spectrum.ieee.org/view-from-the-valley/at-work/start-ups/a-cheap-ubiquitous-earthquake-warning-system

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dheera
In all honesty I'd say Google and Apple are probably the best candidates to
implement an earthquake monitoring system. At any given moment in time there
are loads of cellphones that are sitting idly on a table or other fixed
object. If the next version of Android and iOS were to gather and send back
anonymous, location-tagged accelerometer data automatically (as part of the
basic operating system), vibration correlations could be looked for on a
massive scale, outlying data points removed, and an earthquake warning system
implemented at essentially zero cost. The sensors are already out there.

Battery life impact could be reduced by creating an automatic timeshare where
only a small fraction of those millions of people are collecting data at any
given time; the data would probably still be sufficient. The percentage of
users actively collecting data could also be dynamically increased to improve
accuracy when a possible seismic event is detected anywhere in the system.

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skosch
They would have to transmit accelerometer data (at a reasonably high sampling
rate) in real time. Still, different cellphone's earthquake signals would
arrive at different times. Also: depending on how my building/table resonates
with the quake, the phone sitting on it may make a distorted measurment. So
given those issues, I'm not sure it's as easy as you make it seem (though it
is a pretty awesome idea).

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toomuchtodo
While a cool hack, its more practical to simply combine data sensing networks
for detection. Take a look at how massive the CORS GPS reference network is:
[http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/CORS_Map/](http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/CORS_Map/)

The CORS GPS network is used for precise positioning using position averaging
and correction for any atmospheric interference.

Armchair engineering, I would assume the cost for a solid state seismometer (3
axis accelerometer) would be trivial enough to add onto existing reference
stations to provide precise positioning data, as well as comprehensive
movement data.

~~~
Maxious
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is monitored by a global network of
seismic, infrasound, hydroacoustic and radionuclide sensors.
www.ctbto.org/map/

These usually end up detecting earthquakes though
[http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/hazards/nuclear-
monit...](http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/hazards/nuclear-
monitoring/techniques/seismic)

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spaceguerrilla
I like this idea of distributing the load, but what about a phone app that was
able to use the sensors on your phone. I would think there would be some way
of using the iPhone's internal sensors for this purpose, and pushed via an app
store, I think it would reach more people. IDK...

~~~
gii2
The sensors in your phone are totally unreliable to seismic detection. In
addition to that the detector should be still.

The challenging part is once the algorithm has detected potential earthquake,
how would you distribute the alert within few seconds to everyone? My guess is
this should be done on GSM/UMTS network level, rather that using mobile app
and relying on no-latency transport.

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lancemjoseph
What about hard drives in a datacenter? Polling read latency for instance of a
couple thousand drives could provide enough data. Has this been attempted
before?

~~~
andygates
Those drives are all in one location. In addition to being many, the sensors
also need to be widespread.

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progman
As far as I know there is nothing more reliable than animals for detecting
earthquakes. Typically animals go crazy when they realize a coming earthquake.

[http://gizmodo.com/5833733/how-your-dog-knows-an-
earthquake-...](http://gizmodo.com/5833733/how-your-dog-knows-an-earthquake-
is-coming-way-before-you-do)

One way to take advantage of that could be to stick sensors (radio monitoring,
RFID or something) to some animals. If the animals go crazy then the pattern
of their movements is a reliable sign of a soon coming earthquake.

~~~
gii2
It is believed that some animals (not all of them) sense the P-wave that comes
faster that the destructive S-wave. So I think it is better to rely on sensors
that animals.

