Urban Seismic Network Based on MEMS Sensors: The Experience of the Seismic Observatory in Camerino (Marche, Italy)

Abstract

Urban seismic networks are considered very useful tools for the management of seismic emergencies. In this work, a study of the first urban seismic network in central Italy is presented. The urban seismic network, built using MEMS sensors, was implemented in the urban district of Camerino, one of the cities in central Italy with the greatest seismic vulnerability. The technological choices adopted in developing this system as well as the implemented algorithms are shown in the context of their application to the first seismic event recorded by this innovative monitoring infrastructure. This monitoring network is innovative because it implements a distributed computing and statistical earthquake detection algorithm. As such, it is not based on the traces received by the stations from the central server; rather, each station carries out the necessary checks on the signal in real time, sending brief reports to the server in case of anomalies. This approach attempts to shorten the time between event detection and alert, effectively removing the dead times in the systems currently used in the Italian national network. The only limit for an instant alarm is the latency in the tcp/ip packages used to send the short reports to the server. The presented work shows the infrastructure created; however, there is not enough data to draw conclusions on this new early warning approach in the field, as it is currently in the data collection phase.