The Quake-Catcher Network is an initiative run by the University of Southern California that aims to use computer-based

accelerometer An accelerometer is a tool that measures proper acceleration. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change of velocity) of a body in its own instantaneous rest frame; this is different from coordinate acceleration, which is acc ...

s to detect earthquakes. It uses the

BOINC The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC, pronounced – rhymes with "oink") is an open-source middleware system for volunteer computing (a type of distributed computing). Developed originally to support SETI@home, it beca ...

volunteer computing Volunteer computing is a type of distributed computing in which people donate their computers' unused resources to a research-oriented project, and sometimes in exchange for credit points. The fundamental idea behind it is that a modern desktop co ...

platform (a form of

distributed computing A distributed system is a system whose components are located on different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another from any system. Distributed computing is a field of computer sci ...

, similar to SETI@home). It currently supports mobile devices (smartphones and some tablets/laptops) that have a built-in accelerometer. It also supports three external USB devices currently - the codemercs.com JoyWarrior 24F8, the ONavi sensor, and the MotionNode Accel. In 2011, project scientist Elizabeth Cochran was awarded a Presidential Early Career Award from US President Barack Obama in large part due to her founding of the Quake-Catcher Network project.

References

External links

Interactive world map, showing recent earthquakes (day/week/month)
– ''result of QCN'' Science in society Free science software Volunteer computing projects {{California-university-stub