On June 14, Google researchers visited the Advanced Center for Electrical and Electronic Engineering and met with Dr. Marcelo Soto, a researcher in the Robotics line and an academic in the university’s Electronics Department, and other Center representatives. The meeting was part of a collaboration on seismological monitoring using subsea fiber optics cables.

The study was developed with Google and seismologists from the California Institute of Technology. It has advanced in data interpretation, and Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, with the support of local company NovelCode, developed artificial intelligence techniques to detect seismic activity measured with fiber optics technology.

Eduardo Saravia, Project Manager of Google’s Submarine Cable Group, toured the Center’s facilities as well as the research laboratory working on fiber optics sensors at the Department of Electronics.

This project has great social impact, as it would make it possible to measure the propagation of earthquakes and tsunamis tens of kilometers into the ocean, providing information on their location and timing to develop early warning tools that would help Chile’s coastal cities avoid major catastrophes.