DTM Diana Roman, installing Carnegie Quick Deploy Box seismic station. Credit: Diana Roman.

The Carnegie Quick Deploy Box (QDB)

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Sponsors

The Carnegie Quick Deploy Box (QDB) takes advantage of new technology improvements to make compact and cost-effective broadband seismometers, facilitating deployment during rapid response and large array situations. The box is small enough (~13"x13"x21") and lightweight enough (< 35 lbs) to be checked as airline luggage.

Above: One station's worth of tools, installation materials, and seismic instrumentation using traditional equipment. Below: One station's worth of tools and equipment for the Carnegie Quick Deploy Box.
A QDB deployed near Dover, Delaware to study the aftershocks of the weak but rare Delaware earthquake of November 30, 2017.

The goal of the QDB is to have everything needed for an intermediate period station install (except battery and shovel) contained in a single box for shipment, and to be able to leave everything (except the shovel) in that box when the station is deployed.  Other traditional broadband field installations are typically time consuming and require bulky construction materials, limiting the number of stations that can be installed from a single vehicle without repeated trips to a storage facility.

The sensor and the solar panels are connected to the recorder and battery inside the waterproof Pelican case via waterproof pre-installed bulkhead plug fittings. Everything fits in the box for shipping except the battery, and everything in the box stays in the field for easy demobilization at the end of the project.