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Seismic scientists use laptop network to monitor possible earthquake activity | 04.23.2008 | 07:32:57 | Views: 6454 | ID: April 23 '08: The Quake Catcher Network, a group of seismologists in California, have formed to employ the use of personal laptops connected to the Internet to help monitor seismic activity in the San Francisco Bay and Greater Los Angeles Basin areas, MIT's Technology Review reported. Essentially, the network uses potentially hundreds of connected laptops' built-in motion sensors to measure minute movements over a large area. The idea for the QCN is much like the SETI@Home or the Folding@Home networks, TechReview reported. Respectively, the networks search for signals from outerspace sent by intelligent life, and to research how proteins "fold" - or the assembly of essential proteins. All three examples of networks represent using smaller computers with limited computing power linked together to form larger virtual "supercomputers". TechReview reported, the QCN would help to "perhaps ... offer early warnings, giving a few seconds' notice of a potentially devastating quake. ... If a horde of reports came in from a particular area, it could indicate and earthquake. ... The new distributed network wouldn't" however, replace larger and more sophisticated sensors numbering in the hundreds which are currently monitoring seismic activity in the state. Software built by QCN scientists will monitor the data sent by the network and it will weed out vibrational information created by passing trucks, small earthquakes or other minor vibrations. "The location of networked computers will be identified by their IP addresses and from reports from the users," TechReview reported. National Blueprint Tags: Intelligence & Situational Awareness.(Click below to download file) nationalearthquakeresponse.pdf
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