SEISMIKE-24 (preliminary name) | Watch Video
The first research version of the multichannel SeisMike system was developed by Bjurström and Ryden (2017). It rapidly evolved into the first rolling system developed by Ryden et al. (2019), which provided a “proof of concept” to become a practical and routine NDT for pavement quality management.
In 2020, Minnesota Dept. of Transportation (MnDOT) launched a 2-year project to build a 4-array SeisMike system that can “scan” a certain width of pavement simultaneously (e.g., 4-ft wide) for the quality management of Hot-Mix-Asphalt (HMA) pavement. Park Seismic LLC (PSL) executed the project in collaboration with Norrfee Tech AB (NTA) based in Lund, Sweden, to produce a rolling SeisMike system. The hardware components were built at NTA with National Instrument (NI) PXI system and MEMS microphones operating under LabVIEW environment. The data-analysis and output presentation software package, called ParkSEIS-HMA, was developed at PSL, which processed microphone data and displayed output results automatically in real time. This system is called Tapper 64 (T-64).
TAPPER 64 (MnDOT Contract No. 1034287) (Park et al., 2022)
In 2024, MnDOT launched a follow-up project that can facilitate the convenient and effective operation, maintenance, and possible upgrade of T-64 system. PSL recommended that the best way to make this unique seismic approach sustainable at MnDOT would be the commercialization of the system by using readily available commercial components, which would also make the approach available to other groups in the civil engineering community in both R&D and service sectors. Responding to the mission statement prepared by PSL and distributed to multiple potential participants in seismic NDT, several companies attended the first meeting at MnDOT Material Testing Lab on December 10, 2024. PSL presented about T-64 system and proposed a detailed roadmap to reach the commercialization of such a system. At the end of the meeting, all agreed that the immediate task should be to produce MEMS microphone arrays that can be used with an existing common multichannel seismograph (e.g., 24-channel), which would suffice building a SeisMike system for stationary or semi-rolling surveys, providing a tool for spot test. All also agreed that manufacturing the ultimate rolling system, like T-64, would require further refinement of existing rolling impact source because it does not have any controllability in impact rate and strength.
Seismic Source Company (SSC), after the meeting on Dec-2024, started developing a prototype MEMS microphone array that can be paired with the existing 24-channel DAQlink5 seismograph. After several lab and field tests, SSC completed a prototype SeisMike-24 system in April 2024. On May 20, 2025, 3DGeophysics delivered the system to MnDOT for the first field demo survey at MnROAD Low-Volume-Road (LVR) testing facility in Otsego, MN, by harnessing the system on a steel-mesh cart and installing a manual pinball impact source. The planned field demo surveys did not take place because of the heavy rain. Instead, a scaled-down survey on a concrete slab proceeded in a maintenance vehicle garage below the MnROAD conference hall. The ParkSEIS-X (PSX), developed at PSL, processed raw field records automatically in real time and displayed output shear-wave velocity (Vs) cross section in the acquisition laptop.
The first commercial product of SeisMike-24 system evolved from this prototype by refining the design of MEMS microphone array and the pinball impact source, and also by re-inventing the survey cart.