Monitoring Earthquake through MEMS Sensors (MEMS project) in the town of Acireale (Italy)

Abstract

We introduce the realization of the first European real-time urban seismic network based on Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology. The project is called Monitoring Earthquake through MEMS Sensors (MEMS) and encompass the installation of about 100 seismic station in the municipality of Acireale (Sicily, Italy). The stations, specifically designed and assembled, are equipped with a triaxial MEMS accelerometer, and gyroscope and GPS. In this paper we present the characteristics of the station and of the network. The main objective of the network is a rapid, post-earthquake disaster assessment through the automatic production of shake maps. The network also allow the implementation of an automatic recognition system for damage assessment from remotely piloted aircraft, and of a site-specific Earthquake Early Warning system.