Innovation Corner Good Or Bad Vibrations

Nov 1, 2006 12:00 PM

What if your computer's hard drive were sophisticated enough detect Tsunamis? The idea is not out of the ordinary, according to seismologists from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). USGS officials have been using hard drives from Seagate to detect and store vibration data from earthquakes along the Pacific Rim. The hard drives in the USGS Menlo Park, Calif., office, for example, run around the clock, recording data on recent earthquakes and creating models to understand geological movement.

Following the USGS's idea, Michael Stadler created the Tsunami Harddisk Detector, a version of the technology for individuals that can further be used to detect tsunamis. The software continuously monitors vibrations within the internal components of a computer's hard disk, capturing vibration data and sharing it with computers in other locations. Those computers can then analyze the data received and determine whether an earthquake is occurring and if it could produce a tsunami.

Stadley explains on his Web site that since internal hard disk components are extremely fragile, they react to any accelerations of a computer including those associated with earthquakes. Since tsunamis travel at a much slower speed than the seismic waves of earthquakes, ample warning time can be given, he explains.

The Tsunami Harddisk Detector won second prize in the Net Vision category at this year's Ars Electronica exhibition in Linz, Austria. It will be offered soon as a free download at Stadler's Web site (http://www.ninsight.at/tsunami/download.shtml).

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2012 Penton Media Inc.

This month in Access Control

• Targeting The Customer
• Electronic Pedigrees
• One Hero Among Many
• Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• More from September's issue