Comparison of Characteristics of MEMS and Geophone Sensors for Earthquake Detection

Recently, various attempts for earthquake detection and seismic observation using low-cost vibration sensors are being actively conducted, and among them, MEMS and Geophone are the most frequently attempted sensors. MEMS and Geophone sensors have different characteristics and strengths and weaknesses, and it is necessary to understand them to select a sensor suitable for the purpose. In this study, MEMS and Geophone sensors were compared and tested for P-wave detection for earthquake early warning and ground and structure earthquake motion observation. For this purpose, the two types of sensors were mounted together on one aluminum plate, vibration table tests were conducted, and earthquake detection results were compared through real-time earthquake detection over several months. Through this, only for the tested sensor models, we could conclude that Geophone is suitable for P-wave detection and pattern extraction for noise classification, and MEMS is suitable for strong vibration measurement.