Urban sensing using existing fiber-optic networks
Name
s41467-025-57997-y.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
6.25 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
c58f3118ddb465bba365eeb866884d27
Author(s)
Liu, Jingxiao
Li, Haipeng
Noh, Hae Young
Santi, Paolo
Biondi, Biondo
Ratti, Carlo
Date Issued
March 31, 2025
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Liu, J., Li, H., Noh, H.Y. et al. Urban sensing using existing fiber-optic networks. Nat Commun 16, 3091 (2025).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The analysis of urban seismic signals offers valuable insights into urban environments and society. Yet, accurate detection and localization of seismic sources on a city-wide scale with conventional seismographic network is unavailable due to the prohibitive costs of ultra-dense seismic arrays required for imaging high-frequency anthropogenic sources. Here, we leverage existing fiber-optic networks as a distributed acoustic sensing system to accurately locate urban seismic sources and estimate how their intensity varies over time. By repurposing a 50-kilometer telecommunication fiber into an ultra-dense seismic array, we generate spatiotemporal maps of seismic source power (SSP) across San Jose, California. Our approach overcomes the proximity limitations of urban seismic sensing, enabling accurate localization of remote seismic sources generated by urban activities, such as traffic, construction, and school operations. We also show strong correlations between SSP values and environmental noise levels, as well as various persistent urban features, including land use patterns and demographics.
MIT Department
Senseable City Laboratory
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57997-y
