Earthquake Detection

Another early-warning application is earthquake detection. Earthquakes are typically detected by watching a large area for a larger range, faster moving “P-wave”. This wave may come minutes, or often seconds, before the more damaging “S-wave”. This is a particularly difficult problem because the earth is constantly moving, so several measurement points need to agree on seismic activity to prevent false positives. Since the time difference between the waves is never guaranteed, it is possible (and likely) that current systems will not yet have agreed that a seismic event is occurring by the time the S-Wave hits. Traditionally, the systems that monitor for these events are run by larger organizations, but because of frustration with the current systems private sector projects are starting to fill in perceived gaps [14].

One private solution to earthquake monitoring is more of a cloud computing solution, not purely Internet of Things. It is called TED, or Twitter Earthquake Detector. The system is constantly monitoring Twitter for people reporting (presumably on mobile devices) they felt the ground shake. When enough data is collected to suggest an earthquake is happening / has happened, TED can send out alerts. While the initial data requires human interaction, the responses to TED’s data do not need to. Larger organizations have considered integrating systems like TED into their solutions because of the speed at which it can diagnose earthquakes. While current systems can take several hours to agree on an area affected by an earthquake, TED can often do it in 20 minutes [15].

Japan has had an earthquake detection system for a number of years, relying mostly on data gathered from satellites monitoring ground stations deployed on land or under water. In the last several years, though, they have been using existing networks to tie alerts generated by this system into many pieces of critical infrastructure. In 2011, Japan suffered an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami. The loss of life was high, but could have been much higher if not for the earthquake monitoring system. Within seconds of noticing the event, the earthquake monitoring system was able to send out automated cell phone alerts, broadcast on TV, shut down industrial facilities, transportation systems and elevators. There is no way of telling how many lives were saved by this system [16].

Of course, there are smaller projects mostly focused on hobbiest or DIY “makers”. In 2010, Make Magazine posted an article demonstrating how to make a seismograph with digital reporting capabilities using consumer grade electronics. One of the suggestions in the article was to use the signal sent by the system to effect smart home technologies, like shutting off the gas valve [17]. Stanford University runs a hobbyist earthquake monitoring system called the “Quake Catcher Network”. The website provides a place to obtain a kit, instructions on how to set it up, and a map that shows seismic activity from all over the world [18]. It has been cautioned, however, that the results from these smaller DIY systems do not replace the need for the larger, better funded solutions and should be trusted only so far [20], something that will be covered in more detail in the conclusions.