Crowdsourcing Earthquakes: Tiny Sensor Used In Smart Phones Could Create Urban Seismic Network
Monday, September 30, 2013 - 14:20
in Earth & Climate
A tiny Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) accelerometer used in smart phones to adjust the orientation of the screen could serve to create a real-time urban seismic network and increase the amount of strong motion data collected during a large earthquake, according to a new paper in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. Since the 1990s, (MEMS accelerometers have been measure the rate of acceleration of ground motion and vibration of cars, buildings and installations. They revolutionized the automotive airbag industry and are found in many devices used daily, including smart phones, video games and laptops. read more