Skip to main content

IMS seismology
(for the mining industry)

Institute of Mine Seismology offers Solutions and Services for the Mining Industry

In collaboration with the Institute of Mine Seismology (IMS), Golden Taurus Ingeniería (GTI) delivers cutting-edge near real-time seismological solutions and services to the mining industry.
In collaboration with the Institute of Mine Seismology (IMS), Golden Taurus Ingeniería (GTI) delivers cutting-edge near real-time seismological solutions and services to the mining industry.

Situations can arise at mines that require special, focused projects. IMS offers a variety of ad hoc seismological projects and analyses designed to improve seismic data quality and to get the most out of a microseismic monitoring system.

The IMS seismic system is designed around modern, digital communication networks and all the communication technologies used by the IMS system are 100% compliant with standard networking protocols. This makes for seamless integration of the IMS system with existing telecommunications networks.

Main features of the IMS Seismic System


Ethernet for flexibility

Most IMS hardware products, including netADC and netSP are Ethernet enabled. Other IMS devices, such as UPS and GPS-timer, can be accessed over Ethernet using Ethernet-enabled devices as a transparent bridge. Therefore, most networking equipment providing an Ethernet interface can be used to implement the communications network used for telemetry, monitoring and control of IMS equipment. Examples include standard copper Ethernet switches, GSM/GPRS, WiFi, fibre optic Ethernet, xDSL and satellite modem. This flexibility of communications options makes even the most remote locations suitable for the IMS system.

Waveforms over Ethernet (WoE)

Waveforms over Ethernet (WoE) is IMS’s digital streaming data transfer protocol, designed to be carried by Ethernet-compatible networks. Via reliable Ethernet links, WoE conveys digitised, uncompressed seismic data from the point of digitisation (i.e. the netADC/sensor interface) to a seismic processor (i.e.netSP). Monitoring and control information is also transported in this manner.

xDSL (Ethernet extension)

DSL technology enables Ethernet links to be extended over a single pair of standard telephone-grade copper wires. This is especially attractive at sites where copper infrastructure already exists, and the significant additional cost of installing fibre is not feasible.
IMS DSL modems operate at speeds of up to 5,4 Mbps over distances of up to 7 km. They integrate the timing signal required for synchronisation of digitisers without a view of GPS satellites (e.g. at underground stations) into the DSL-encoded data. This is a significant advantage over standard DSL communications, as it eliminates the need for a separate communications channel for timing. This keeps the number of copper pairs and/or fibre down to one per link.

Precision Time Protocol (PTP)

Keeping the clocks of all data acquisition nodes accurately synchronised is of utmost importance in a distributed seismic-monitoring network. Traditionally this has been achieved using dedicated timing networks. However, now IMS offers PTP-enabled (PTPv2: IEEE 1588-2008) devices as a cost-effective and simple means of achieving this over standard business LANs.
PTP devices distributed across a network are capable of synchronising their clocks with sub-microsecond accuracy, using mostly pre-existing networking infrastructure. A PTP network operates with one grandmaster providing timing-update information to multiple PTP slaves.

TCP/IP

TCP and IP are the ubiquitous technologies that enable the internet and the World Wide Web. Their widespread use is leveraged by the IMS system to ensure maximum compatibility with existing networks.
TCP provides reliable, ordered delivery of data streams between hosts. IP handles the addressing and routing of data across networks. Together, TCP and IP provide the services required to reliably deliver data across complex networks, be it a mine, wide area network (WAN) or the internet.
TCP/IP is used by the IMS system wherever reliable, ordered data transfer services are required (for example, the transfer of seismic events from netSP to the seismic server [Synapse]or central database).
It should be noted that the increased reliability of TCP/IP comes at the cost of increased latency, which limits its real-time performance. This is why WoE is preferred to transfer seismic data over smaller, more reliable and faster networks.

Web Technology

Apart from the transfer of raw seismic data from remote stations, the IMS stable includes a number of routine seismological and technical support services, all of which require 24/7 reliable connectivity to sites across the globe.

Improving seismic data quality and utilising the full potential of microseismic monitoring systems. The consulting tasks are listed below:

SEISMIC SYSTEM AUDIT

Verification of the performance of seismic sites is important for maintaining a fully operational microseismic system that is able to extract accurate information about seismic events. Recorded seismic data is used to evaluate performance in the following categories:
- Background Seismic Noise
- Site Response
- Orientation and Polarity
- Acceptance / Rejection Ratio

SEISMOLOGICAL SYSTEM CALIBRATION

Assessment and improvement of quality of seismic data, including noise rejection, blast discrimination, velocity calibration and calibration of seismic quality factors. System calibration ensures the highest possible quality data. It includes the following aspects:
- Velocity Calibration
- Blast Discrimination
- Noise Rejection
- Calibration of Seismic Quality Factors

SHORT-TERM ACTIVITY TRACKER

Calibration of Short – Term Activity Tracker (STAT)
STAT is a special tool in Ticker3D that monitors the current activity rate, and quantifies the probability that activity is higher than a reference rate. The utility of STAT is based on the principle that if the rate of seismic activity increases, so does the probability that one of these events may be larger and damaging. Once calibrated, STAT can be monitored in real time, and automatically notifies if the activity rate increases.

INTERMEDIATE AND LONG – TERM HAZARD

Assessment of Intermediate- and Long – Term Seismic Hazard
Intermediate- and long-term hazard assessments quantify the probability that a potentially damaging seismic event will occur in a given volume within a given interval of time in the future (on the order of months to years). The method of assessment includes the following steps:
- The quality and consistency of seismic data is checked, and the largest events are manually reprocessed
- A seismogenic volume is selected
- The expected value and upper limit of the next record-breaking event is evaluated
- The probabilities of occurrence of events is calculated
The assessments should be re-evaluated routinely (annually or bi-annually) or when the largest event record is broken.

GMPE CALIBRATION

Development of Ground Motion Prediction Equation (GMPE)
Ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) are specially calibrated equations that relate the ground motion to the size of an event (in terms of seismic potency or radiated seismic energy) and the distance from the event. The estimation of ground motion can be done in terms of peak ground velocity/peak particle velocity (PGV/PPV) or cumulative absolute displacement (CAD). GMPEs are used to perform ground-motion hazard assessments, identify areas that potentially experienced damage during a large event, and estimate inelastic deformation associated with seismic events.

GROUND MOTION HAZARD FOR FUTURE MINING

Assessment of Seismic and Ground Motion Hazard for Future Mining Scenarios
The assessment is based on the modelling of seismicity expected for the planned mining steps. The Salamon-Linkov method is used for this. The modelling needs to be calibrated for historical mining steps using the observed seismicity.
Combining observed and expected seismicity allows for the estimation of future seismic hazard and ground motion hazard. This requires the estimate of the next record-breaking event and calibrated ground motion prediction equation. The results can be presented in terms of likelihoods of events according to the risk assessment matrix adopted at the mine.
This method is most useful when comparing the seismic or ground motion hazard for different mining scenarios (e.g. ranking different stoping sequences).

INSTANT LARGE EVENT ANALYSIS

Rapid Large Event Analysis
Within hours of a large or damaging event, analysis by an experienced seismologist will confirm location, location uncertainty, source parameters and results of moment tensor inversion.

ADVANCED LARGE EVENT ANALYSIS

Advanced Analysis of Large or Damaging Seismic Event
Advanced analysis of large or damaging events can provide insight into the mechanics of their sources and help to explain the damage. The analysis can include:
- Confirmation of location and location uncertainty
- Source mechanism inversion and testing of potential sources
- Analysis of fore- and aftershocks
- Inversion of slip distribution
- Assessment of dynamic loading to excavations

ENSURE DATA AVAILABILITY

At IMS we understand the importance of your seismic data, and that it needs to be available when you need it. A seismic system is only useful if processed data is available for analysis. Seismic data can only be recorded and processed if all components in the system function as intended. We can help you to reach the goal of 100% uptime.

MONITOR CRITICAL SYSTEMS

We keep close watch of the seismic system vitals every second of every day. No exceptions

NOTIFICATION

Subscribe to automated SMS, email or voice-call messages alerting to degraded system health or data-transfer issues.

SMOOTH RUNNING SYSTEM

To ensure the seismic system continues to function as intended day in and day out, IMS support personnel will carry out daily remote administration and preventative maintenance tasks on your seismic server and related computer systems.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT LEVERAGE

Customers who subscribe to comprehensive maintenance will enjoy the benefit of an IMS systems engineer being on call to look into problems as they arise.

KEEP TRACK

Receive system health reports daily.

Providing a variety of technical services to support IMS seismic system installations throughout its operational lifespan.

SYSTEM INSTALLATION AND COMMISSIONING

Useful seismic data starts with the correct installation and configuration of system components. Our team of engineers are ready to assist on-site with installing and configuring seismic system components, for both new systems and where existing systems are expanded. IMS will supervise the installation of the equipment at all sensor sites, install the software and test and commission the equipment.

SYSTEM MAINTENANCE

Routine Maintenance, Ad-Hoc Maintenance, Emergency Call-Out
The Institute of Mine Seismology has a number of maintenance and support options available to its customers. Such support consists of remedying any faults in hardware, or replacing and repairing faulty hardware. It also includes such Software Support as is necessary to restore the system to the point at which it is fully functional. Our team of engineers are ready to assist on-site to maintain the seismic system components to ensure best possible system availability.

TECHNICAL SYSTEM AUDITS

Over time, harsh industrial environments and activities can affect even the best installation. Our team of engineers are ready to assist with reviewing the technical aspects of the seismic-monitoring system installation. A review is conducted and recommendations are made regarding improvements and best practices. The technical-system audit includes physically visiting seismometer stations and sensors to assess the quality of the installation. The seismic server and auxiliary communication devices are included in the evaluation.
The output of each audit is a comprehensive report outlining the details of the seismic system installation and system performance, with specific focus on reliability and optimisation.
A typical 30-station system can be audited in five days. IMS recommends annual audits to ensure that the seismic-system installation remains at a high standard.

Ready to assist 24/7

IMS has a team of trained technical support engineers, who are ready 24/7 to assist via email, telephone or remote login. The team specialises in guiding customers to isolate faults on the IMS system installation.