A Survey of Internet of Things (IoT) for Geohazard Prevention: Applications, Technologies, and Challenges

TLDR

Geologic hazards such as landslides, subsidence, and earthquakes threaten life and property, and monitoring with early warning is essential; the Internet of Things offers a promising way to improve the accuracy and efficiency of such systems. This article surveys IoT applications in geohazard prevention, covering monitoring and early warning across seven hazard types, key technologies, challenges, and future directions. The survey examines IoT use in monitoring and early warning for landslides, debris flow, rockfall, surface subsidence, collapse, cracks, and earthquakes, evaluates key technologies, and identifies challenges in IoT‑based systems.

Abstract

Geologic hazards (geohazards) are naturally occurring or human-activity-induced geologic conditions capable of causing damage or loss of property and/or life. geohazards, such as landslides, surface subsidence, and earthquakes, can seriously affect and threaten life, property, or public safety. geohazards prevention is the application of geologic engineering principles and existing and emerging technologies to reduce, minimize, or prevent the effects of various geologic hazards. Monitoring and early warning are the most common strategies for geohazards prevention. With the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), an emerging new idea is to apply IoT technology to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of monitoring and early warning systems for geohazards prevention. This article aims to present a comprehensive survey of relevant research and technological developments of the IoT applied in geohazards prevention. It first surveys the applications of the IoT in the monitoring and early warning of seven types of common geohazards, including landslides, debris flow, rockfall, surface subsidence, surface collapse, surface cracks, and earthquakes, then investigates the key technologies in geohazards prevention when utilizing the IoT, and finally summarizes the challenges in IoT-based monitoring and early warning systems for geohazards prevention. Moreover, this article also highlights the future directions for employing the IoT for geohazards prevention.