Japan is such a country where earthquake comes now and then. It’s like earthquake is their bosom friend or close neighbor or relative. Researchers have been trying to make such technology or device that can warn about an earthquake since long time. At present, researchers have found ‘Seismic Sensors’ a convincing way to warn about a tremor. High school science students from Taiwan have come with easy method. By using pocket sized personal seismic sensors, they can monitor and predict Earthquake.
Pocket sized sensors can predict an earthquake. In fact, pocket sized MEMS sensors are being mounted to an open source citizen science platform. Therefore, by using grid enabled software, not only the scientists but also local high school students can track earthquakes. Now, students are being taught, how to use low cost seismic sensors at school and home to track earthquakes. It is a special project where combining science education with crucial data collection, students will understand earthquakes and their impacts easily. Therefore, many networks are being installed. The first network has been installed in a girls’ high school in northeastern Taiwan.
Stanford University and University of California-Riverside has created the Quake-Catcher Network. It links computers to a motion sensing system. If you want to learn how you can connect your computer to a motion sensing system for free, just click here. But the new Taiwanese version has the ability to augment the country’s 200 real time seismic sensors. Unfortunately, these seismic sensors are expensive and difficult to deploy. The whole system uses an open source software kit like the Quake Catcher Network called Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC)
The system transmits the recorded data to servers where seismologists are waiting to analyze it. Students can being taught especially how to use BOINC and how to install the sensors at home and school. The purpose of this project is using the system like other developing countries and detect earthquake or any kind of tremor easily. It is supposed to expand to the Philippines next year.
Source : International Science Grid This Week
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