Variometric Tests for Accelerometer Sensors

We present a comprehensive review of several variometric tests recently carried out on a home-made measurement system composed of a tern of low-cost accelerometer sensors of MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) type equipped with autonomous electric supply and wireless transmission. The most important parameters characterizing the systematic errors, i.e. bias, scale factor and thermal correction factor, have been evaluated by calibration tests based upon the so-called “six -positions” static test proposed by the IEEE 517 Standard. In this way the system optimal configuration has been defined in terms of data acquisition frequency and of scale factor. In addition to such tests, partly documented elsewhere, the results of some sensitivity tests on the influence of external environmental factors are also presented. With the aim of employing the proposed MEMS-based system as a device for monitoring the onset of slope landslides, some further tests have been carried out in order to measure the inclination of rigid objects which the sensors have been fixed to. The most significant results of the tests are illustrated and discussed.