SciWave Geophysics LaboratoryFaculty of Science, Mahidol University
Illustrated landscape: mountain border, landslide slope, reservoir dam, groundwater wells and a geothermal field
Illustrative scene

See beneath. Sense in real time.

SciWave EarthExplorer: Seis and Volt, sensing nodes designed and built in Thailand by the Geophysics Laboratory, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, together with SciWave Innovation Co., Ltd.

BordersLandslidesDamsGroundwaterGeothermal
Talk to usMeet Seis and Volt
Mahidol University seal
Faculty of Science, Mahidol University · Geophysics Laboratory × SciWave Innovation Co., Ltd.
When

SciWave Seis

Electro-seismic node, up to 9 channels
Cutaway 3D view of the SciWave Seis node: sealed tube with geophone, MEMS board, ADC main board, power module, Wi-Fi puck and three electrical ports
Sealed tube · about 20 cm · under 1 kg
  1. Wi-Fi link + time syncnodes agree to a few milliseconds
  2. Power modulebattery + external power input
  3. 6 × 24-bit ADC200 samples per second
  4. Clock · temperature / humidityhousekeeping on every record
  5. 3 electrical / EM inputselectrodes, magnetometer or coil
  6. 3-component geophonefaint vibration, 2–15 Hz
  7. 3-axis MEMSstrong shaking and tilt
Up to 9 channels in one node: 3 geophone3 MEMS3 electrical / EM

An electro-seismic node, configured per job: exploration to monitoring · academic, engineering and industry · conventional or unconventional layouts.

Seis test results

Seis test results. Benchmarked against the Faculty's own Trillium seismometer.

67 hside by side with the Faculty's Trillium
1–2 %one response model fits all 3 boards
≤ 2.6 dBvs Trillium, 2–4 Hz, quiet ground
2–7 mstiming offset vs Trillium, after software correction

What Seis measures.

DemonstratedStructure and impacts

  • Natural frequency of the structure · live spectrum
  • Impact detection + rough zone

Built, awaiting field testTilt and soft soil

  • Tilt (MEMS)
  • H/V for soft-soil layers

PlannedImaging and alerts

  • Change in wave speed (dv/v)
  • Ground image from ambient noise · alerts
Where

SciWave Volt

Finds wet ground below the surface
ERT

Resistivity

Inject current; place electrodes freely, not only in a straight line.

E-map

Electric field map

Many points, referenced to one magnetic station (concept).

SP

Self-potential

Track water flow without injecting current, with non-polarizing electrodes.

Dam seepagePipe leaksWell sitingSaltwater intrusionCanal leaks
TRL 6 · ResistivityField prototype · Muak Lek reservoir pilot with RID
TRL 3–4 · Self-potentialCo-developed with Mahidol University · sand tank
Concept · E-mapnot yet field-tested
SciWave EarthExplorer · Seis + VoltSame Wi-Fi comms, power module and dashboard

Research that leaves the lab

Applied geophysics for Thailand's energy, water, hazards and infrastructure

Why SciWave?

Sci for Science. Wave for a new generation, a new era of science, turning research into tools Thailand can use.

Research›Prototype›Field work›Back to lab

Geophysics Laboratory, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, working with SciWave Innovation Co., Ltd. to take instruments, software and methods from the bench to the field and back.

What we can do

  1. Magnetotelluric (MT) surveys and 3-D inversion
  2. Gravity modelling for CCS monitoring
  3. Resistivity and self-potential imaging
  4. Seismic monitoring nodes and dashboards
  5. Machine learning for aquifers and imaging
  6. Instrument R&D: coils, electrodes, nodes
  7. Web portals, GIS and data systems
  8. Training courses and field schools

What we did

client · year

Geothermal & energy

  • Fang and Mae Chan geothermal MTDGR 2014–15 · DEDE 2018
  • MT for binary-ORC geothermal, seed fundMahidol × Sussex 2026

Groundwater & salt

  • Phutok middle-aquifer MT, 14 areasDGR 2026–28
  • Salt-dome MT: Borabue, Ban Dung, Sakon NakhonDGR 2025
  • Well-log machine learning for aquifer mappingresearch 2026

Earthquakes & faults

  • Chiang Rai basin 3-D MT, 60 stationsNRCT 2026–27
  • Wang Nuea and Mae Lao active-fault MTThEP 2025–26
  • EARTH: Earthquake Research Center website + libraryNRCT 2026

Dams, infrastructure & security

  • Muak Lek reservoir dam-health pilot, Seis + VoltRID 2026
  • GeoShield intrusion-detection seismic networkNumpol 2024–25
  • Chiang Dao Seis field test2025

Oil, gas & CCS

  • Arthit CCS gravity-monitoring toolkitPTTEP 2025–26
  • Advanced machine-learning course, 40 geoscientistsPTTEP 2026

Modelling results

what the models say before and after the field
Sakon Nakhon MT: station map around Nong Han lake and a resistivity section showing a shallow saline layer

Salt domes and saline groundwater

DGR · 2025 · 3-D magnetotelluric, Khorat Plateau

Three salt-dome sites (Borabue, Sakon Nakhon, Ban Dung), full 3-D inversion with WSINV3DMT. Brine from dissolving rock salt shows up as very conductive zones near the surface and at 100–500 m, and the data demand them. The resistive salt bodies are placed with borehole and old seismic lines, so the two datasets complete each other. Result: a direct picture of where saline groundwater around Nong Bo and Nong Han comes from.

86MT stations, 3 sites< 3 Ω·mbrine · > 100 Ω·m salt100–500 msalt topRMS 1.3–1.4model fit
Gravity anomaly curves for bodies of increasing strike length converging on the 2-D solution, with a 20 microgal detection floor

Can gravity see stored CO2?

PTTEP · 2025–26 · time-lapse gravity for CCS, Gulf of Thailand

We built GravTK, a validated 2-D / 2.5-D / 3-D gravity toolkit with a web app, to test seafloor gravity over an offshore depleted gas field. A simple 2-D section over-predicts a compact plume; exact 3-D gives only a few µGal over two decades, below the usual 12–20 µGal detection floor. That sets the instrument precision a monitoring programme really needs.

≈ 1.6×2-D over-estimate12–20 µGalusual floor1–2 µGalprecision needed10 M voxelsin 2.5 min
Two resistivity sections of an earthfill dam: surface-line inversion versus trans-dam inversion, with the seepage target outlined

Dam health: see into the core

RID · 2026 · ERT + self-potential models, Muak Lek pilot

Before we instrument an earthfill dam we simulate it. A standard surface electrode line reaches only about 10 m into a 30 m embankment and misses a mid-dam seepage zone. Driving current through the dam, upstream to downstream, reaches 24 m and sees it clearly. A modelled leak through the clay core also leaves a millivolt self-potential signature, which guides our 96-electrode design.

10 → 24 mdepth of investigation× 40sensitivity at target2.9 mVSP from a core leak96shared electrodes

Selected publications

16 research outputs · 127 citations · h-index 7 (Scopus, Nov 2026). Full list on the Mahidol research profile.

  1. A decade of successful magnetotelluric surveys for delineating shallow geothermal reservoirs beneath nonvolcanic hot springs in ThailandAmatyakul, Siripunvaraporn, Rung-Arunwan, Vachiratienchai, Pirarai, Prommakorn · Geophysics 2023geothermal
  2. An assessment of a shallow geothermal reservoir of Mae Chan hot spring via magnetotelluric surveysAmatyakul, Wood, Rung-Arunwan et al. · Geothermics 2021 · 5 boreholes hit hot water at the predicted depthsgeothermal
  3. Exploring the shallow geothermal fluid reservoir of Fang geothermal system via a 3-D magnetotelluric surveyAmatyakul, Boonchaisuk, Rung-Arunwan et al. · Geothermics 2016geothermal
  4. A pilot magnetotelluric survey for geothermal exploration in Mae Chan regionAmatyakul, Rung-Arunwan, Siripunvaraporn · Geothermics 2015geothermal
  5. Retrospective earthquake spatial forecasting: magnetotelluric insights into fluid-driven intraplate seismicity in northern Thailand, 1994–2024Amatyakul, Boonchaisuk, Nualkhao, Ogawa, Siripunvaraporn · Earth, Planets and Space 2025earthquakes
  6. 3-D magnetotelluric imaging of the Phayao Fault Zone: evidence for saline fluid in the source region of the 2014 Chiang Rai earthquakeBoonchaisuk, Noisagool, Amatyakul et al. · Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 2017earthquakes
  7. WSJointInv2D-MT-DCR: an efficient joint 2-D magnetotelluric and DC resistivity inversionAmatyakul, Vachiratienchai, Siripunvaraporn · Computers & Geosciences 2017software
  8. An efficient decoupled 3-D axial anisotropic resistivity inversion for magnetotelluric data with OpenMP parallelizationThongyoy, Siripunvaraporn, Amatyakul, Rung-Arunwan, Baba · Earth, Planets and Space 2025software

Partners & friends

Government & agenciesNRCTDGRDMREGATRIDDEDEThEP
IndustryPTTEPCurl-E GeophysicsNumpol Intertrad
Universities & researchMahidol iNTUniversity of SussexKyushu UniversityChiang Mai University
InstrumentsKMS TechnologiesMetronixLEMI

Built with AI in our lab. Software we wrote with AI assistance and use every day. We groom people to lead frontier investigation with AI, with a human in the loop at every step.

SciWave Seis dashboardThe live screens at our booth
MT Data PortalStores field data, runs 3-D inversions on our GPU nodes
Thailand Geology GIS + well databaseGeology, 59,000 wells and survey layers in one map
Lab knowledge assistantAnswers from our own reports, notes and data
GPU compute portal + ML modelsShared computing; ERT, MT and well-log ML

Visit our booth

Seis and Volt live on the desks
3D view of the SciWave × Mahidol booth: field mural on the centre wall, two desks with live dashboards, Seis nodes and a sand tank

Try it at the desks

  • Seis: jump next to the node and watch the live spectrum respond.
  • Volt: drip water into the sand tank and see the wet patch appear on screen.
  • Pick up the A4 sheets for Seis, Volt and the lab, or scan the QR on the banner to come back here.

Contact

Pilot partners, students and visiting researchers welcome

Email

[email protected]

For products, pilots, projects and courses. We reply within a few working days.

Phone

+66 99 385 4696

SciWave Innovation Co., Ltd. · Monday to Friday, 9:00–17:00 (Bangkok)

Geophysics Laboratory

Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University
272 Rama VI Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand

ห้องปฏิบัติการ ธรณีฟิสิกส์ ภาควิชาฟิสิกส์ คณะวิทยาศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยมหิดล

SciWave Innovation Co., Ltd.

31/72 Soi Ngamwongwan 43 Yaek 2-27, Thung Song Hong, Lak Si, Bangkok 10210, Thailand

บริษัท ไซเวฟ อินโนเวชั่น จำกัด · 31/72 ซอยงามวงศ์วาน 43 แยก 2-27 แขวงทุ่งสองห้อง เขตหลักสี่ กรุงเทพมหานคร 10210

Open to new pilots in geothermal, groundwater, dam safety and CCS monitoring, from one-day site tests to multi-year programmes. Designed and built in Thailand.