Vibration classifier: what caused the vibration

The SiteHive Vibration Waveform Classifier uses AI to identify the source of every vibration exceedance automatically.

Waveform classification overview: a PPV time-series graph, a waveform detail with the DIN 4150-3 peak values chart, and four captured waveforms each labelled Construction

Interpreting vibration exceedances has always been manual work: an exceedance might be real construction activity, an external source, or someone knocking the device.

The vibration waveform classifier takes the guess work out of this process so you can identify sources more quickly and confidently with SiteHive Enviro Pro.

What is the SiteHive Waveform Classifier?

When a SiteHive Hexanode Vibration device records a PPV exceedance, it captures the vibration waveform. The SiteHive Waveform Classifier analyses that waveform with AI and labels it construction or non-construction the moment it is captured.

It is built on the same technology as the SiteHive Audio Classifier. Classification runs in real time in the cloud, and every classification is stored against its event, giving you a defensible record for compliance reporting, investigations and audit.

Understanding waveforms

Vibration sources have surprisingly distinct signatures, which is what makes them so well suited to AI classification.

A waveform shows velocity over time for each axis (X, Y and Z). Reading them side by side tells a story, for example:

Driven piling produces a clean, repeating low-frequency pattern, with strikes evenly spaced.
A knock on the device is a single sharp spike with almost no lead-in or decay.

What the labels mean

If you already use the Audio Classifier for noise, you know how to read it. Each waveform carries one of two labels:

Construction (shown orange): vibration generated by site activity.
Non-construction (shown blue): external sources or human-induced events, such as a knock on the device.

Three captured waveforms side by side: a Non Construction single spike, a Construction waveform with evenly repeating strikes, and a second Non Construction single spike, each with its PPV and time

How to view vibration waveform classifications

On your SiteHive Enviro Pro Dashboard:

Select the Vibration aspect and your Monitoring Point.
When a PPV exceedance has been recorded, the captured waveform appears with its classification label.
Click any waveform to open the detail view, where you can see the X, Y and Z axis traces and what drove the exceedance.

Waveform Details window for a Construction event: the three-axis velocity trace, the DIN 4150-3 peak values chart with commercial, residential and sensitive lines, and the peak velocity and frequency for each axis

To triage exceedances in bulk, go to the Events page:

Select the event you want to investigate.
Click Investigate & Explain to see the classification alongside the event details.
Use the classification to decide straight away whether the event needs action or can be explained as non-construction.

What's next

SiteHive Vibration: what it measures and how (PPV, VDV and the waveforms behind them)

Events: investigate an exceedance (record, investigate and explain exceedances in bulk)

Audio Classifier: what made the noise (the same idea, for noise)