The project http://qcn.stanford.edu/index.php uses computer hard drive MEMs accelerometers to aid in tremor analysis, aiming at developing earthquake prediction science. Potentially they could also use PS3 game controllers.

A higher quality data source could be supplied by providing wireless equipment vendors with incentives to include MEMs devices in enterprise access points. These devices are generally placed in clusters and do not get moved around as much as a laptop, so they would provide a more stable base.

Moreover, if an accelerometer is combined with a magnetometer, vendors could improve their product by allowing radio resource management systems to automatically detect the orientation of access points. This would be a side- benefit, reducing manpower costs involved in enterprise WiFi network provisioning. Currently, antenna azimuth and elevation and AP location are entered into mapping utilities manually -- or more to the point they are not entered because it is too much work.

AP location and antenna orientation information will become more critical as RFID location systems become more essential to business operations and active frequency management is needed to combat spectrum saturation.

So the industry has motive to do this, but it probably would not be cost- justifiable as a feature. With public or nonprofit incentive, both parties could benefit.
-- skids, May 18 2010

Random business rag. http://info.covento...=mems+accelerometer
Examples of MEMs kinetics devices. [skids, May 18 2010]

QCN http://qcn.stanford.edu/index.php
Quake Catcher Network [skids, May 18 2010]

Dedicated monitoring stations http://www.pnsn.org...OSHEET/welcome.html
An example of the many public-financed dedicated monitoring systems [skids, May 18 2010]

In addition to the QCN, several earthquake monitoring sensor networks are already built and maintained at public expense. This would just be a combination of the QCN approach and the direct implementation approach.

In essence the idea is to still "take advantage" of the provisioning done by the enterprise -- power, stable location, network access, etc, but be able to choose a quality accelerometer.
-- skids, May 18 2010


QCN requires staff and developers. It isn't free. Likely it is payed for by taxpayer dollars and/or private educational grants.

This idea might offset the need for more expensive dedicated monitoring networks, as the costs are: legal costs, software development, a small amount of extra engineering, and maybe about a buck a unit to add the actual chip, what cost will decrease over time. It has the potential to reduce the cost to the public coffers.

If you are going to routinely vote down every idea that uses public financing, maybe you'd be happier on another website. Like Free Republic.
-- skids, May 18 2010


Any idea which concerns the public good could be considered a "let's all." That doesn't make such ideas bad ones. The main issue of whether a "let's all" idea is appropriate for HB is whether or not the people whose participation the poster desires, would have an appropriate incentive.

If the idea were stated to more clearly emphasize that computer hardware manufacturers would be paid by an external organization to add electronics to detect earthquakes, magnetic north, etc., to enterprise systems, I'd give it a bun.
-- goldbb, May 24 2010


Perhaps a software upload to the Wii network to utilize the accelerometers in the wiimotes?
-- RayfordSteele, May 25 2010



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