The newly developed low-cost micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)-based
acceleration sensors exhibit sufficient accuracy and stability to monitor the shaking of
structures caused by an earthquake. We have developed a practical shaking-monitoring
system using MEMS-based acceleration sensors and a 920 MHz multi-hop radio
communication method that offers reliable radio wave communication, even within buildings.
In this system, the base clock of each sensor unit must be closely synchronized to the master
clock to minimize acceleration-induced phase synchronization error. In the proposed system,
this error can be limited to three milliseconds in a system of multiple sensor units.
Abstract
The newly developed low-cost micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)-based
acceleration sensors exhibit sufficient accuracy and stability to monitor the shaking of
structures caused by an earthquake. We have developed a practical shaking-monitoring
system [...]