Beyond Seismographs: A Consensus Algorithm for Earthquake Early Warning at the Edge

With the advent of advanced communication technologies like 5G and the emergence of the Internet of Everything, there is a growing potential to leverage public communication networks for mission-critical applications. Traditionally, these applications have depended on private, narrowband networks such as TETRA and P25. The latest communication protocols and architectures promise specific levels of latency and reliability even during the negotiation phase. Concurrently, the increasing deployment of sensors for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) offers access to vast data volumes at low costs and near real-time capabilities when required. This paper highlights the significant benefits of integrating these two paradigms in the context of Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) systems. Utilizing existing earthquake propagation models and recorded seismic data, we have developed a new simulator tailored to mimic a densely packed sensor network environment. We introduce a consensus algorithm that processes the initial milliseconds of data collected by sensors nearest to the earthquake’s hypocenter. An alert is then promptly issued. Our results indicate substantial improvements in reducing the time to relay warnings, thereby significantly diminishing the extent of the blind zone, where warnings arrive too late, in EEW systems.