9th International Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering 139

20-22 December, 2016, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Microcontroller Based Earthquake Detection System

for Spontaneous Cut-off of Domestic Utility Lines for
Safety Measures
Swapnil Sayan Saha[1], Shekh Md. Mahmudul Islam[2], Anindita Mashsharat[3]
Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Dhaka
Dhaka, Bangladesh
swapnilsayansaha@ieee.org[1], mahmud@du.ac.bd[2], aninditamashsharat@gmail.com[3]

Abstract Bangladesh is a country with a high frequency of Earthquakes over the last few years that have affected this
earthquakes. Since the country lies at the junction of three region have stayed within the 4-7 magnitude range, with the
tectonic plates, the intensity of earthquakes felt in this region is 2015 Nepal Earthquakes as exceptions. Figure 1 shows the
moderate. Surprisingly, the number of deaths and financial loss magnitudes of earthquakes near Dhaka, Bangladesh that have
in this region by earthquakes is not due to building crashes or affected the fast emerging megacity in the last ten years (2006-
being crushed under homes. Rather, major reasons of losses are 2016).
due to indirect phenomena such as induction of fear, as well as
fire induced from a cracked gas line or faulty electrical
transmission line damaged by earthquakes. As a result, a low cost
automated microcontroller based system has been designed and
implemented using inexpensive locally sourced electronic
components, which senses earthquakes and gas leaks via force
sensitive resistors and gas sensors respectively. The
microcontroller operates a relay and a motor that cuts off
electricity and gas supplies respectively during the event of an
earthquake, helping to prevent associated potential disasters.

Keywords- Microcontroller, Force Sensitive Resistor, Gas

Sensor, Relay, Servo Motors

I. INTRODUCTION
Intermittent and frequent earthquakes are a common cause
of terror and concern amongst the citizens of Bangladesh. As a
country situated at the intersection of the Indian Plate, the
Eurasian Plate and the Burma Plate, Bangladesh has been
affected by some large earthquakes; some of them had
magnitudes greater than 7.0 on the Richter scale and had
epicenters inside the country [1]. Several major historical
earthquakes that have affected Bangladesh are shown in Table Figure 1. Scatter plot of Earthquakes affecting Bangladesh in the
last ten years (Data taken from earthquaketrack.com [3]).
I.
The red line in Figure 1 shows the mean earthquake
TABLE I. LIST OF MAJOR HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKES AFFECTING
BANGLADESH (>7.0 MAGNITUDE) [1][2][3] magnitude to be 4.8 with a slight postive correlation.

Date Name Magnitude Epicentral distance News of deaths due to earthquakes caused by being
(Richter) from Dhaka (in km)
crushed under homes is quite rare in Bangladesh, thanks to the
8th Jul 1918 Srimangal Earthquake 7.6 150 epicentrial distances of extremely large earthquakes being
nd
2 Jul 1930 Dhubri Earthquake 7.1 250 400-800 km away from the capital city. However, other than
rd
injuries and deaths caused by induction of panic, another
23 Oct 1943 Numaligarh Earthquake 7.2 438
subsidiary cause of fatalities might be fire caused by a fissured
12th Sep 1946 Mawlaik Earthquake 8.0 407 gas supply line or short circuits from faulty electricity
15th Aug 1950 Assam Earthquake 8.5 - transmission lines. Examples of severe destruction of lives and
properties caused by fires from gas lines include fires caused
by the San Franscisco (1906), the Tokyo (1923), The Loma

978-1-5090-2963-1/16/$31.00 2016 IEEE

 140

Prieta (1989), Northridge (1994) and Kobe (1995) earthquakes servo motor attached to the gas line valve to rotate. It also turns
[4]. Since gas and electrical utility lines of Bangladesh on the emergency lights which illuminates the evacuation path
especially are prone to damage due to earthquakes, it is for the user. The alarm circuitry is also activated
advisable that these utlity lines should be cut-off during the simultaneously.
interval during which the tremors are felt. If no earthquakes are detected but a gas leak is detected by
the gas sensor, then the system shuts down the gas valve only.
Unfortunately, the natural instinct of humans would be to
The entire operation can be monitored via an android
take cover or run for their lives rather than doing something
application, which facilitates remote operation and control of
intricate like switching off circuit breakers or turning off gas
valves during emergencies. Hence, this paper presents the
design and implementation of an automated earthquake
detection system that automatically cuts of the discussed two
utlity lines using the AVR family of microcontrollers.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Several US patents exist which claim to shut off utility lines
during earthquakes [5] [6]. This system, compared to the
existing systems, uses a microcontroller as the central hub.
Force sensitive resistors tuned to resonate at seismic wave
frequencies have been utilized for vibration detection. The
system also encompasses several modern and convenient
features such as integration with an android application, turning
on emergency lights to guide the user to an emergency
evacuation route and using an attention grabbing alarm.
Compared to existing systems using mechanical means or
relays, this system uses a single high current relay and a servo
motor to turn off the entire domestic gas and electricity supply.

III. MATERIALS AND METHODS

the system.
A. Operational Principle
Figure 3. Schematic Diagram of the Entire System.

B. The Microcontroller Platform

Figure 2. Block diagram of the designed automated earthquake detection
system. The relay and the servo motor are connected to the
electrcity and gas supplies respectively.
As shown in Figure 2, the designed system consists of
primarily five parts. The microcontroller platform controls the
operation of the entire system. The sensor circuitry detects
tremors caused by earthquakes as well as leaks in the gas line.
Once an earthquake is detected, the microcontroller platform
shuts down the electricity supply through a relay and causes the
This system has been designed using the Arduino Mega
microcontroller development platform, which features the
Atmel Atmega 2560 microcontroller. The commercial
prototype should not be built using the Arduino if one wants to
lessen production costs and space [7].
C. The Sensor Circuitry
Two sensors have been utilized in this designed system for
two different purposes.
In this designed system, the MQ-2 gas sensor module has
been utilized. This particular sensor has been chosen due to its
non-exorbitant cost, low power requirements, wide detecting
scope, fast response, high sensitivity and a long life [8], all of
which promotes its use for engineering applications in
Bangladesh. Most vitally, the sensor is well known for its use
in embedded systems in detecting combustible gases [8].
Figure 4 shows the sensitivity curve of this gas sensor [9].
 141

MQ2
10
Rs/Rb

1
H2
LPG
CH4
CO
Alcohol
Smoke
Propene
Air
Q1 ppm
100 1000 10000

Figure 4. Typical Sensitivity Characteristics of the MQ-2 Gas Sensor [9].

We are interested in the sensitivity curves of methane, alcohol, carbon
monoxide and smoke in this designed system.
Figure 5. Seismic Microzonation Map of Dhaka City. Band a is
Concentrations of atmospheric methane is 0.722 ppm for structures 2-5 storeys high, Band b is for structures of 6-8
stories high, Band c is for structures 9-14 stories high, Band d is
[10] and carbon monoxide is 0.2 ppm, which are way beneath for structures 15-20 stories high [12].
the minimum sensitivity of the sensor as show in Figure 6.
Hence, the sensor would not produce false values due to It is evident from Figure 5 that buildings 9-20 stories high are
atmospheric concentration of these gases. at the maximum risk of being affected by earthquakes, whose
resonant frequencies lie in the range of 0.5-1 Hz using eqn. 1.
A force sensitive resistor is a variable resistor whose
resistance decreases with an increase in force applied on the
As a result, the magnitude of the mass that needs to be
resistor [7].
attached to the system is given by:
In order for the force sensitive resistor to oscillate at m = k/(2)2 (2)
surface wave frequencies of earthquakes, a mass should be
attached to the force sensitive resistor such that the resonant where,
frequency of oscillation of the resistor matches with the = Resonant frequency of the building in Hertz
resonant frequency of the surface waves. k = Spring constant of the oscillating system
m = mass of the oscillating system
Several factors should be considered in choosing the resonant
frequency of oscillation for the sensor: The spring constant of an end-loaded cantilever is given by:
k = Et3w/4l3 (3)
Resonant Frequency of the buildings: As a rule of where,
thumb, the resonant frequency of civil structures is E = Youngs Modulus, which can be found from Figure 6
found using the following empirical relationship [11]: t = thickness, w = width, l = length of the system [13].
1/ = 0.1 (1)
where,
= Resonant frequency of the building
N = Number of stories of the building (1, 2...)
Seismic Microzonation map of the area: Not all
structures within a given area may have the same
resonant frequency. Thus, seismic microzonation
needs to be applied in order to determine which
structures are at the maximum risk. For this particular
project, the city of Dhaka was chosen as the intended
area. Figure 5 shows the seismic microzonation map Figure 6. Stress-strain characteristics across two faces of a carbon
of Dhaka, divided into 4 bands [12]. filled PDMS sponge, the material typically used for crafting force
sensitive resistors [14].
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The high amplitude oscillations of the mass-sensor system V. RESULTS, CONCLUSION & FUTURE WORK
causes a force to act on the sensor, which alters its resistance The designed system was a just a proof of qualitative
and thus, voltage output from the sensor increases. concept and was not tested on a large scale during actual
D. The Output Circuitry: earthquakes. The prototype did manage to detect simulated
As soon as an earthquake is detected, the microcontroller earthquake-like tremors with magnitudes of 4.0+.
activates a relay that cuts off electricity supply. It also sends
Several improvements may be brought to this system:
pulses to a servo motor attached to the gas valve which rotates
in order to turn a gas valve off, cutting off gas supply. If there
is no earthquake event but a gas leak is detected, then the 1. A 3 axis accelerometer can replace the FSR for
microcontroller platform simply turns off the gas supply. The detection in all planes independent of frequency.
system also activates a set of emergency alphanumeric 2. 2D Multi-gas mapping techniques with cascading
module system over a wireless sensor network can be
displays that read E X I T once an earthquake is triggered to
used to monitor the gas leaks at multiple points [15].
mark the evacuation route for the user.
3. Pattern recognition algorithms based on positive
E. The Alarm Circuitry: decision logic may be integrated into this system [16].
The alarm circuitry consists of a DC buzzer and an LED to
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