Determination of a seismometer’s generator constant, azimuth, and orthogonality in three-dimensional space using a reference seismometer

Abstract

To accurately predict the performance of a seismometer, knowledge of its key parameters is required. We present a new method that requires a single reference instrument to estimate some of the important parameters of the seismometer, such as the ratio of the generator constants, the orthogonality deviation, and the rotation in space and in the horizontal plane with regards to the reference instrument. The procedure is performed in the three-dimensional spaces where the Euler rotation theorem is applied in order to define a transformation, which is then used to transform the detection of the reference seismometer as well as the detection of the instrument under test. The estimated transformation matrix is defined as an upper triangular matrix, where its elements contain the information regarding the parameters of the tested seismometer, which are then evaluated using the Euler angles. The new method has been verified on a pair consisting of two STS-2 seismometers and on a pair consisting of one CMG-3T and one STS-2 seismometer.