Use of low-cost mems technology in early warning system against landslide threats

Abstract

Modern methods of monitoring landslides are based on observations of both: direct surveying (GNSS, electronic tachymetry, geometric levelling) and remote sensing (terrestrial and aerial photogrammetry, laser scanning, interferometry), as well as surface and subsurface geotechnical observations (e.g. inclinometers, extensometers, piezometers, etc.). Due to the high cost of installation of these devices and its measurement, the implementations of these methods are usually used on well-defined objects, with established landslide activity and high risk to people's lives. The main objective of the project was to design, create and do practical tests of simple and inexpensive measurement devices, which detect first symptoms of a potential landslide movements and alert of an existing threat. These devices would be some kind of an early warning system that would register the occurrence of the first movements of the surface layers of soil, which would be a signal to start of geodetic and geotechnical monitoring of potential landslides.