Current seismic sensor issues for defense and security applications

Abstract

Seismic footstep detection-based systems are very important for various homeland security and military applications. Their performance and usefulness strongly depends on the characteristics of the seismic sensors. Unfortunately, currently available seismic sensors do not provide in satisfactory results. This paper describes the main issues of using seismic sensors for detection purposes and shows the key disadvantages of the most popular commercial seismic sensors/geophones. According to our results, the following are the key issues of poor seismic sensor performance: - Poor response to low frequency signals, leading to decrease of the detection range of targets - Unsatisfactory sensitivity threshold, causing missing low level seismic signals from outlying targets - Long damping signal time and corresponding low accuracy response, leading to problems with outlying target detection in high level noise environments - Low noise immunity from electromagnetic interference making seismic sensor operation in radar installation areas unreliable - Relatively bulky size and high price, which prevents extensive use of seismic sensors In addition, we have formulated objective requirements for seismic sensors to be used in defense and security applications