What should I consider before purchasing seismic monitoring system?

Seismic and vibration monitoring is based on creation of a network of continuous long-term observations in the study area. Its field of application covers a wide range of engineering and technical tasks, such as study of regional or local seismic activity including critical facilities, diagnostics of the state of the foundation soils of buildings and structures, assessment of dynamic instability of the roadbed, determination of the percentage of building deterioration, etc.

If you task falls onder one of the mentioned categories, you should then consider the scale of your monitoring system.

Monitoring systems are fundamentally divided into two main types: the ALBEN model, designed for detection by threshold value (uses a larger number of channels) and the MASTER model, with continuous recording with smaller number of channels. In general, there is no limit to the length of the recording, only the power supply to the entire system and the communication between its components must be maintained. A set of relevant equipment consists of seismographs and, as a rule, sensors (e.g., velocimeters or accelerometers) and various accessories (software, GPS antennas, modems, etc.). The seismograph is connected to the sensor(s) and placed in any accessible location (on the ground, an element of a building structure, etc.) These recorders can then be combined into a system consisting of several pieces and the sensors can be placed around the object of study.