Comparison of the STA/LTA and power spectral density methods for microseismic event detection

Abstract

Summary We have compared the performance of two microseismic event detectors, namely the STA/LTA and PSD methods. We conclude that the PSD technique outperforms the STA/LTA method by detecting a higher number of weak microseismic events that are obscured by background noise. The PSD method has the advantage over STA/LTA method that no prior bandpass filtering is required to enhance the SNR and also permits for detection of signals with characteristically different frequency contents if the background noise spectrum is stationary.