For three years, Google has been “moving” into millions of Android mobile phones, turning them into surprisingly effective earthquakes.
By 2020, Google launched a project to collect Android mobile phone signals that an earthquake could be imminent.
The system has taken advantage of the existing acceleroters in these devices for collecting seismic data, combining them to detect consistent earthquake patterns, and send permanent alerts to people who may be affected.
This Thursday, the researchers who worked on the project an article in the magazine Science where they reveal that their seismic detection technology worked quite well.
The main objective was to bring technology to places that do not have seismic stations – and therefore cannot issue local alerts.
We don’t even feel the transformation
As details A, the system worked by detecting sudden increases in accelerating a telephone that are consistent with ground movements in earthquakes.
Once triggered, the mobile phone sent a signal to a central server, which listened to similar signals from other mobile phones in the same area and at the same time. When the observed data reached a highly high level of confidence, an earthquake was officially declared.
Over three years of operation, the crowdsourcing system implemented in 98 countries detected an average of 312 earthquakes per monthwith magnitudes (m) that ranged from a minimum of m 1.9 and a dangerously high m 7.8.
| DESIGNATION | MAGNITUDE | Effects | AMOUNT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micro | Micro Tremor of Earth, does not feel. | ||
| Very small | 2,0-2,9 | It usually does not feel, but is detected/registered. | 1.000 / is |
| Small | 3,0-3,9 | Often meaning, but rarely causes damage. | 49.000 / Again |
| Light | 4,0-4,9 | Notorious tremor of objects within dwellings, shock noise between objects. Important damage. | 6.200 / again |
| Moderate | 5,0-5,9 | It can cause higher damage to poorly designed buildings in restricted areas. It causes slight damage to well -constructed buildings. | 800 / again |
| Forte | 6,0-6,9 | It can be destructive in zones within 180 kilometers in inhabited areas. | 120 / Again |
| Grande | 7,0-7,9 | It can cause severe damage to vast areas. | 18 / again |
| Important | 8,0-8,9 | It can cause serious damage to zones within hundreds of kilometers. | 1 / again |
| Exceptional | 9,0-9,9 | Devastates zones within thousands of kilometers. | |
| Extreme | > 10,0 | Has never been registered | — |
| Richter Scale – Source: | Source: | Source: | Source: |
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According to users’ reactions, 85% of people who received a warning felt the shake and 36% of respondents said they had received a warning before the shaking.
As New Atlas writes, “Not bad for a system that doesn’t need many local infrastructure to help keep people safe.”
Google implemented this system on 2.5 million devices through pre-installed software that comes with all Android mobile phoneswhich means it was activated by defect and did not require information from the owners to be used.
The accelero -based crowdsourcing system is a Most modern version of the so -called Shakelert 2015in which “the GPS receptors of a smartphone can detect the permanent soil movement (displacement) caused by the movement of failure in a large earthquake.”
This technology is also linked to the system Android Earthquake Alertswhich transmits warnings directly to mobile phones in areas where seismologists expect shakes, along with instructions on how to house.
