Quake-Catcher Network
Encyclopedia
The Quake-Catcher Network is a joint collaborative initiative run by Stanford University
and UC Riverside that aims to use computer based accelerometer
s to detect earthquakes. It uses the BOINC volunteer computing
platform (a form of distributed computing
, similar to SETI@home
).
It currently supports newer Mac laptops which have the built-in accelerometer (used to park hard drive heads if the laptop is dropped), and the newer IBM/Lenovo thinkpads. It also supports two external USB devices currently - the codemercs.com JoyWarrior 24F8 and the MotionNode Accel.
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
and UC Riverside that aims to use computer based accelerometer
Accelerometer
An accelerometer is a device that measures proper acceleration, also called the four-acceleration. This is not necessarily the same as the coordinate acceleration , but is rather the type of acceleration associated with the phenomenon of weight experienced by a test mass that resides in the frame...
s to detect earthquakes. It uses the BOINC volunteer computing
Volunteer computing
Volunteer computing is a type of distributed computing in which computer owners donate their computing resources to one or more "projects".-History:...
platform (a form of distributed computing
Distributed computing
Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through a computer network. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal...
, similar to SETI@home
SETI@home
SETI@home is an Internet-based public volunteer computing project employing the BOINC software platform, hosted by the Space Sciences Laboratory, at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States. SETI is an acronym for the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence...
).
It currently supports newer Mac laptops which have the built-in accelerometer (used to park hard drive heads if the laptop is dropped), and the newer IBM/Lenovo thinkpads. It also supports two external USB devices currently - the codemercs.com JoyWarrior 24F8 and the MotionNode Accel.