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Earthquakes, measured to the second.

Earthquake early warning races the shaking. Seismometers and GNSS stations report in real time with precise timing to the seismological agency, which issues warnings and shaking maps, and the same record tells engineers how key buildings responded.

Industry

Public safety

Measurements

5

Sources cited

3

1. Public safety · Earthquakes and early warning

   A race against the waves

   An earthquake’s first, gentle waves travel faster than the strong shaking behind them. A network that detects them in real time, with clocks true to the millisecond, can warn people seconds before the shaking arrives and tell engineers within minutes how key buildings fared.

2. What is measured

   Motion, time and displacement

   Broadband and strong-motion seismometers record ground motion in vaults and buildings. GNSS receivers give every station precise time and, at high rate, the displacement of large earthquakes. Accelerometers on floors of key buildings record their response, and community reports add felt shaking.

   Instruments

   Broadband seismometers · Strong-motion sensors · High-rate GNSS · Building accelerometers

3. The base node

   Seconds saved at the station

   Each station’s node streams waveforms in real time, picks the first arrival and estimates its amplitude locally so the agency gains seconds. It checks its clock against GNSS on every sample, signs the stream and keeps a buffer through any break.

4. Radio and links

   Fibre first, two paths always

   Stations near fibre stream with the lowest delay. Others stream over cellular with a second operator where possible, and remote stations or any that lose terrestrial links in the shaking report by satellite. Each station buffers its stream, so gaps are filled when a link returns.

   Links

   Fibre · Public cellular · Satellite

5. How it works

   From the first wave to a warning

   A station near the epicentre picks the first wave and streams it with its pick. The agency combines picks from nearby stations, estimates location and size, and issues a warning through its distribution system. People further away receive it before the strong shaking arrives.

6. From order to operation · Order

   Scope the network and the warning

   The scope reads the existing seismic network, the gaps in coverage, the key buildings to instrument and the agency’s warning procedures. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the station plan, the communications and timing design, the integration with the agency and a price per station and per service.

   Plan a deployment

7. From order to operation · Survey

   Find quiet ground and strong buildings

   Crews test candidate sites for background noise with a temporary sensor, check foundations and vaults, and choose floors in key buildings with the structural engineer. They check fibre, cellular, sky view for GNSS and power at each site. Each candidate site is ranked by noise, access and power.

8. From order to operation · Permits

   Hosts, buildings and roles

   Building owners host stations by agreement, and structural instruments are approved by their engineers. Warning roles are written down, so the seismological agency decides. Every agreement is kept with the station. Hosts are told how the station works and whom to call. Every agreement is kept with the station.

9. From order to operation · Build

   Build and time each station

   Seismometers, GNSS receivers, nodes and modems are built, tested together on a shake table or bench and enrolled with their identities. Each station’s metadata is written in the international format, and every part is labelled with its station code. Timing is tested before shipping.

   Open the Station Builder

10. From order to operation · Install

    Install on solid ground

    Crews set seismometers in vaults or on structural floors, level and orient them, mount GNSS antennas with clear sky and connect fibre or cellular with batteries. Every station is photographed, surveyed and its orientation recorded. Cables are protected and enclosures sealed against dust and water.

11. From order to operation · Commission

    Check noise, timing and latency

    Each node proves its identity. Noise levels are measured, timing is checked against GNSS, orientation is verified, and the delay from ground to agency is measured. The station joins the agency’s network only when all four pass. The results are kept with the station metadata.

12. From order to operation · Operate

    Locate, warn and assess

    The agency receives waveforms in real time, locates earthquakes, estimates their size and issues warnings and shaking maps under its procedures. Engineers see how key buildings responded within minutes, and every station’s health and timing is watched. Stations that fall silent are flagged at once.

13. From order to operation · Maintain

    Keep noise low and time true

    Stations are visited on schedule to check sensors, timing and batteries, and after every large event. Metadata is updated with every change, so waveforms remain usable for research and for the next warning. Spares are kept ready, so a failed station is restored quickly, and a timing fault is fixed before its data is used.

    Book field services

14. Data products

    For agencies, engineers and the public

    Seismological agencies receive real-time waveforms; agencies, emergency managers and the public receive event locations, sizes and shaking maps; warning authorities and critical facilities receive early warnings; structural engineers receive building response records. Each carries station metadata and timing. Products follow the agency’s release rules.

    See the data products

15. Evidence

    Waveforms the world can reuse

    Every waveform, pick, event and warning is signed and kept with its timing. Data and metadata follow the international seismological formats, warnings travel in the Common Alerting Protocol, and practice follows the national earthquake hazard programmes, so waveforms remain usable for research and review.

    Drawn against

    FDSN StationXML and SEED · USGS Earthquake Hazards Program · Common Alerting Protocol

16. What you get

    Timing and positioning integrity

    PTP grandmasters with GNSS holdover, interference detection and timing monitoring for networks and instruments. Delivered as hardware + software and managed service, for carriers, utilities, financial infrastructure, observatories. Scale: National timing fabrics. Service levels are written as numbers you can measure on your own dashboard.

    Talk to sales

17. Next step

    Plan earthquakes and early warning with us

    Tell us the site, the measurements and the rules it answers to. We reply with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for earthquakes and early warning. An engineer replies with a survey proposal and a scope, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need, at your pace.

    Plan a deploymentOpen the Station BuilderOpen the Studio

01The place and its hazards

Where it runs, and what can go wrong.

Operating contextSeismological agencies run networks of seismometers and GNSS stations that locate earthquakes, estimate their size and, where early warning exists, alert people seconds before strong shaking. Engineers instrument key buildings and bridges. Data is exchanged in international formats, and warnings follow the agency’s procedures.

Hazards

• Strong shaking with seconds of warning at best
• Tsunami after a large coastal earthquake
• Building and bridge damage that must be assessed fast
• Network loss in the shaking itself
• Timing errors that spoil locations

02What must be measured

What, where, how often, and under which rules.

Each measurement names where it is taken, how often, and the public standard or regulation behind it. Numbers in the sources column open the cited source below.

03The observation stack

From one base unit to a network.

The same blocks at every scale: instruments and a base node, a site with its radio, a fleet run as one, and a network federated on the open protocol.

1. 01

   Base unit

   A station: a seismometer and a GNSS receiver with a disciplined clock, read by an edge node that streams and signs every sample.

   Build a station →
2. 02

   Site

   A city: stations in vaults and key buildings, fibre where it runs and cellular elsewhere, with two paths each.

   Plan a site →
3. 03

   Fleet

   Every station of a network run as one fleet, with one metadata record and one timing check.

   Managed offers →
4. 04

   Network

   Seismological agencies, engineers and warning authorities exchange waveforms, events and warnings through international formats.

   The open protocol →

• 01Seismometer / strong-motion accelerometer
• 02GNSS geodetic station
• 03Edge node (Wedge)
• 04Fibre terminal
• 05Cellular modem/router
• 06Battery case

Radio and links

Fibre

Stations in buildings and vaults near fibre stream with the lowest delay, which early warning needs.

Radio and links

Public cellular

Stations without fibre stream over cellular, with a second operator where possible.

Radio and links

Satellite

Remote stations and any that lose terrestrial links in the shaking keep reporting by satellite.

Edge computeEach station’s node streams waveforms in real time, picks the first arrival and estimates its amplitude locally to save seconds, and checks its clock against GNSS on every sample.

PowerStations run on building or mains power with batteries that carry them through the outage a large earthquake causes.

04How it works

From the instrument to the product.

One observation’s path, tier by tier, with the interface on every link and a bill of materials below; then how the one node grows to a site, a fleet and federated networks.

05From order to operation

Every step, from the first call to a running site.

The same crew and the same record carry the work from scope to maintenance.

1. 01 Order

   Scope the network and the warning

   The scope reads the existing seismic network, the gaps in coverage, the key buildings to instrument and the agency’s warning procedures. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the station plan, the communications and timing design, the integration with the agency and a price per station and per service. 2

2. 02 Survey

   Find quiet ground and strong buildings

   Crews test candidate sites for background noise with a temporary sensor, check foundations and vaults, and choose floors in key buildings with the structural engineer. They check fibre, cellular, sky view for GNSS and power at each site. Each candidate site is ranked by noise, access and power.

3. 03 Permits

   Hosts, buildings and roles

   Building owners host stations by agreement, and structural instruments are approved by their engineers. Warning roles are written down, so the seismological agency decides. Every agreement is kept with the station. Hosts are told how the station works and whom to call. Every agreement is kept with the station.

4. 04 Build

   Build and time each station

   Seismometers, GNSS receivers, nodes and modems are built, tested together on a shake table or bench and enrolled with their identities. Each station’s metadata is written in the international format, and every part is labelled with its station code. Timing is tested before shipping. 1

5. 05 Install

   Install on solid ground

   Crews set seismometers in vaults or on structural floors, level and orient them, mount GNSS antennas with clear sky and connect fibre or cellular with batteries. Every station is photographed, surveyed and its orientation recorded. Cables are protected and enclosures sealed against dust and water.

6. 06 Commission

   Check noise, timing and latency

   Each node proves its identity. Noise levels are measured, timing is checked against GNSS, orientation is verified, and the delay from ground to agency is measured. The station joins the agency’s network only when all four pass. The results are kept with the station metadata.

7. 07 Operate

   Locate, warn and assess

   The agency receives waveforms in real time, locates earthquakes, estimates their size and issues warnings and shaking maps under its procedures. Engineers see how key buildings responded within minutes, and every station’s health and timing is watched. Stations that fall silent are flagged at once. 23

8. 08 Maintain

   Keep noise low and time true

   Stations are visited on schedule to check sensors, timing and batteries, and after every large event. Metadata is updated with every change, so waveforms remain usable for research and for the next warning. Spares are kept ready, so a failed station is restored quickly, and a timing fault is fixed before its data is used.

06Data products and integration

What it delivers, to whom, and into which systems.

Data products

• Real-time waveformsSeismological agencies
• Event locations, sizes and shaking mapsAgencies, emergency managers and the public
• Early warningsWarning authorities and critical facilities
• Building response recordsStructural engineers

Integration

• Seismological processingWaveforms stream in SEED formats with StationXML metadata into the agency’s processing.
• Warning distributionWarnings are issued by the agency in the Common Alerting Protocol.
• Building managementResponse records reach the building’s engineer with each event.

Exchanged through FDSN StationXML, SEED, Common Alerting Protocol.

07Questions buyers ask

Before you scope it.

How much warning is possible?

It depends on distance from the earthquake; nearby there may be none, further away seconds. The agency sets what is issued.

Who issues warnings?

The seismological agency, under its procedures.

Will stations survive the shaking?

They are installed on solid ground with batteries and two paths.

Can our building be instrumented?

Yes, with the building’s structural engineer.

08Resources

The sources behind this page.

Public standards, regulations and guidance, cited where they apply. Each applies only where its jurisdiction or scope does.

1. 1FDSN StationXML and SEED data formatsInternational Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks
2. 2Earthquake Hazards ProgramUnited States Geological Survey
3. 3Common Alerting Protocol Version 1.2OASIS

09Related

Use cases and solutions.

10Public safety: specialized fields

Other fields of this industry.

Bring us the site.

Plan a deployment, configure a station, model it in the Studio or talk to sales. The form names who receives your details.