Real Time Data Acquisition for Mission-Critical Seismic Networks

Ensuring the reliable acquisition of real time seismic data from remote monitoring stations is an inherently challenging task. Stations are often in isolated locations with little to no supporting infrastructure, creating limitations on power and communications systems which demand design tradeoffs. When the data is driving mission-critical public safety systems, such as Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) and future work for Operational Earthquake Forecasting (OEF), real time acquisition performance is of critical importance. 

In particular for EEW, acquisition performance must be measured not only in real time data availability, but also data latency and bandwidth utilization.  Beyond these key performance metrics, it is critical that the system is robust, with layers of redundancy to ensure continued operation in the event of a damaging earthquake. A comprehensive system test and acceptance program is needed to ensure performance requirements are met and to have confidence the system will function as intended at the critical moment.

 

This study examines the objectives, the factors considered and the approaches taken in the design and implementation of a real time acquisition systems for mission-critical networks.

Authors 

Michael Laporte, Michael Perlin, Ben Tatham, Valarie Hamilton, Bruce Townsend