RaspMI: Raspberry Pi Assisted Embedded System for Monitoring and Recording of Seismic Ambient Noise

Recently, the passive seismic techniques based on the microtremor measurements have emerged as an alternative to conventional seismic and geotechnical methods used in engineering seismology and earthquake engineering, especially in the local site effect investigations. These methods are basically based on the recording of seismic ambient noise and analysis of its spectral features. Although these techniques are more practical than traditional seismic methods, the commercial instruments designed for recording the seismic ambient noise are quite expensive. Furthermore, most of these instruments require an external computer for recording and monitoring the data. In this sense, this article intends to present a low-cost and Raspberry Pi single-board microcomputer aided seismic ambient noise recording and monitoring system (RaspMI) as an alternative to the computer aided commercial seismic noise measurement systems. RaspMI is an open-source hardware and software system that is controlled by a graphical user interface developed by using the MonoDevelop cross-platform and C# programming language. This system has many features such as 72 dB dynamic range, 100 Hz sampling frequency, timer recording mode, text and SAC data file format, and latitude, longitude, date and time support with GPS module. RaspMI has subjected to the various tests in terms of the reliability and sensitivity. The obtained results have shown that RaspMI can be used as an alternative instrument for seismic ambient noise measurements.