Center for Embedded Network Sensing

In conjunction with Caltech and the Geophysical Institute of Peru, we installed our network of 49 seismic sites across steep and shallow subduction regions in Peru. Flat slab subduction is thought to have formed much of the major geology of the western United States some 100 million years ago. By examining such processes presently active in Central and South America we can piece together the history. The data from the Peruvian sites is delivered to UCLA every night and we have collected almost 1 year so far. In the GeoNet experiment, the science objective is to use a rapidly installable wirelessly linked seismic network to make near-real time unaliased observations in aftershock or volcanic zones. The immediate technical objective is to collaborate with Reftek to construct a new generation digital acquisition system (DAS) based on the CENS-developed LEAP (low-power energy aware processing) system and a newly developed low-power A/D converter from Texas Instruments. We also look into the possibility of using the cell phones for seismic data collection and research. Phones are increasingly being equipped with not only accelerometers, but also cameras, Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and Internet connectivity. This makes them very attractive for use in data mining. We have tested a number of small USB accelerometers and a cell phone on a shake table and the results are encouraging.