Low-Cost High-Performance MEMS Inertia Measurement Unit for Seismic Activity Monitoring
Bima R. P. D. Palevi (1), Djoko H. Praswanto* (2), Ratri Andinisari (3), Citra D. Megawati (4), Rachmadi Setiawan (1)

(1) Department of Electrical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Malang 65152, Indonesia
(2) Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Malang 65152, Indonesia
(3) Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Malang 65152, Indonesia
(4) Department of Creative and Digital Industries, Faculty of Vocational Studies, University of Brawijaya, Malang 65145, Indonesia
*) corresponding author: djoko[at]lecturer.itn.ac.id

Abstract

In a developing country rich of seismicity as in Indonesia, the need for seismometers and integrated monitoring system keeps on increasing. The existing seismic stations are very few and poorly distributed, especially the ones installed around volcanoes. To better the overall monitoring system, the number of seismic station has to be increased despite the fact that commercial seismometer is currently unaffordable. Therefore, this study aims to develop a low-cost sensor to monitor seismic activities of active volcanoes by using tri-axial Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). The type of IMU utilized in this study is MPU-9250 with embedded MPU-6050 architecture. Equipped with both tri-axial accelerometer and gyroscope, MPU-9250 is working based on Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS). This sensor has the capability to detect a change in acceleration up to 16 g-force on all three of its accelerometer axis. The calibration of this sensor was performed by feeding it simulated seismic signal and observing the recorded data. The response of both accelerometer and gyroscope showed significant particle motions similar to those of earthquake seismograms. Hence, the use of tri-axial IMU as a sensor for seismic activity monitoring is considered to be suitable.

Keywords: seismometers- tri-axial Inertial Measurement Unit- Micro Electro Mechanical System

Topic: Information Processing and Engineering