ID :
210889
Mon, 10/03/2011 - 14:04
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/210889
The shortlink copeid
IIT-GN and CIT to develop early earthquake warning system
Ahmedabad, Oct 3 (PTI) Researchers at the Indian
Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIT-GN) have undertaken
a project to develop a 'slight early' earthquake warning
system.
The institute has teamed up with California Institute
of Technology (CIT), Pasadena, USA, to develop a system having
dense network of low-cost motion sensors capable of sensing
earthquake's early seismic activity.
"The goal of our project is to put in place a network of
small devices called accelerometers near an active fault line
which can pick up earth vibrations. They can be standalone
devices transmitting data to a central server," Prof Girish
Singhal, project incharge at IIT-GN told PTI.
"A mesh of very low-cost sensors in that area shall be
able to pick up velocity of shock waves, issuing slight early
alerts of an earthquake," Singhal claimed.
The project is expected to be of immense help to first
responders during a calamity.
According to estimate of experts, an earthquake in Bhuj
will take few minutes to reach Ahmedabad and an early warning
system in place could help in issuing alerts to shut down big
machines here, which are potential major source of secondary
losses in the event of any seismic activity.
Singhal, along with two final year BTech students, is
working on this project at IIT-GN.
"One of the students, Prathmesh Juvatkar, visited CIT as
part of this project on building a community seismic network.
He has brought four sensors along with him for this pilot
project," Singhal said.
"I went to CIT, Pasadena, USA and my project was on
building a Community Seismic Network," Juvatkar, a third-year
Electrical Engineering student at IIT-GN, said.
"My project was to develop a private network of portable
low-cost devices that consume minimal resources and can send
the seismic data to a central server," he said.
A large number of such private networks will ensure
sufficient amount of data available for the detection of
earthquakes with higher accuracy, Juvatkar added.
"For building a system capable of early detection of
seismic activity, we need high density arrays of spatially
distributed motion sensors," he said.
He stressed that the losses due to tremors can be greatly
reduced if early warnings can be issued or at least early
seismic activity is detected, Juvatkar claimed.
The sensors brought from the US are currently installed
at a IIT-GN laboratory and further research is underway.
"Our next target shall be to install network of 6-10
sensors in Bhuj near an active fault line over the next few
months, which shall be connected to a computer," he said.
The project is expected to receive grants soon from the
Central government and the USA-based National Science
Foundation for scaling up the research project.
A devastating quake in Gujarat on January 26, 2001 had
killed around 20,000 people, with Bhuj, which is situated only
20 kms away from its epicentre, bore the worst brunt of the
calamity. PTI VKB
MNS
Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIT-GN) have undertaken
a project to develop a 'slight early' earthquake warning
system.
The institute has teamed up with California Institute
of Technology (CIT), Pasadena, USA, to develop a system having
dense network of low-cost motion sensors capable of sensing
earthquake's early seismic activity.
"The goal of our project is to put in place a network of
small devices called accelerometers near an active fault line
which can pick up earth vibrations. They can be standalone
devices transmitting data to a central server," Prof Girish
Singhal, project incharge at IIT-GN told PTI.
"A mesh of very low-cost sensors in that area shall be
able to pick up velocity of shock waves, issuing slight early
alerts of an earthquake," Singhal claimed.
The project is expected to be of immense help to first
responders during a calamity.
According to estimate of experts, an earthquake in Bhuj
will take few minutes to reach Ahmedabad and an early warning
system in place could help in issuing alerts to shut down big
machines here, which are potential major source of secondary
losses in the event of any seismic activity.
Singhal, along with two final year BTech students, is
working on this project at IIT-GN.
"One of the students, Prathmesh Juvatkar, visited CIT as
part of this project on building a community seismic network.
He has brought four sensors along with him for this pilot
project," Singhal said.
"I went to CIT, Pasadena, USA and my project was on
building a Community Seismic Network," Juvatkar, a third-year
Electrical Engineering student at IIT-GN, said.
"My project was to develop a private network of portable
low-cost devices that consume minimal resources and can send
the seismic data to a central server," he said.
A large number of such private networks will ensure
sufficient amount of data available for the detection of
earthquakes with higher accuracy, Juvatkar added.
"For building a system capable of early detection of
seismic activity, we need high density arrays of spatially
distributed motion sensors," he said.
He stressed that the losses due to tremors can be greatly
reduced if early warnings can be issued or at least early
seismic activity is detected, Juvatkar claimed.
The sensors brought from the US are currently installed
at a IIT-GN laboratory and further research is underway.
"Our next target shall be to install network of 6-10
sensors in Bhuj near an active fault line over the next few
months, which shall be connected to a computer," he said.
The project is expected to receive grants soon from the
Central government and the USA-based National Science
Foundation for scaling up the research project.
A devastating quake in Gujarat on January 26, 2001 had
killed around 20,000 people, with Bhuj, which is situated only
20 kms away from its epicentre, bore the worst brunt of the
calamity. PTI VKB
MNS
