PhD PROJECT ADVERTISED: Seismic Monitoring of Geohazards: Development and deployment of a low-cost arduino based seismic system

Supervisors: Dr Mark Naylor, Prof Hugh Sinclair, Dr Stella Pytharouli, Calum Cuthill

Summary

You will improve and test our prototype arduino based low-cost seismic logger which is designed for meduim-term deployments, with telemetry, in harsh environments such as debris flow sites.

Project background

Seismology can be used to monitor the initiation and evolution of various geo hazards including earthquakes, landslides, debris flows, flooding, sediment transport and volcanic systems. This information can inform early warning systems and disaster response teams. However, a typical station including telemetry costs at least £8k per site. Further multiple sites are typically required. This makes one reluctant to site equipment in potentially harsh environments where it might be destroyed by the events we are interested in.

Consequently, we have been developing a low-cost seismic data logger using the arduino micro-controller and our custom designed Geoduino Seismic ADC shield. This allows us to deploy a geophone for upto 5 months with telemetry of the data over the mobile network in potentially harsh environments where the equipment is at risk of being destroyed, such as in sites with debris flows or on volcanos. This technological innovation makes it possible to operationalise the monitoring of natural hazards for early warning.

For more information see: https://www.ed.ac.uk/geosciences/study/degrees/research-degrees/phd-projects/physical-sciences?item=1418