This locally developed underground monitoring device can help in disaster risk reduction

A new invention that was hailed as the national winner of the James Dyson Awards can help monitor the condition of the ground beneath our feet using a device that measures soil resistivity.

In Martin Javier's "Game Changer" segment on Monday's "24 Oras," the device is called RAMUN, short for Resistivity Acquisition and Monitoring of the Underground.

Through sensors and electric current transmitters, it determines the capacity of the soil to resist the flow of electricity. The data it collects will be processed and turned into a timelapse video to make underground monitoring more efficient.

RAMUN can be used to analyze underground conditions following an earthquake or a landslide, which can help in disaster risk reduction. It can also be used in construction and detection of groundwater pollution.

The brains behind this new innovation is Joseph Aristotle de Leon from the Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Management in De La Salle University.

De Leon said he is currently working on developing the field site prototype of the device.

—MGP, GMA Integrated News