FEATURE NETWORKS
@fibresystemsmag |
www.fibre-systems.com
Submarine cables know no boundaries
Katia Moskvitch looks at the technologies that are making underwater communication faster and safer
Different types of fibre optic cable armouring
congratulatory telegram from Queen Victoria to US President James Buchanan – it took eight years until a replacement was operational. Te cable, made of copper wires insulated with natural latex from the gutta-percha tree, probably had manufacturing faults and burnt out when its electric load was cranked up to compensate for rapidly deteriorating signal strength. When the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami
W
Industry interest in increasing submarine cable capacity is huge, underlined by the recently announced Hawaiki submarine cable system
devastated Eastern Japan on 11 March 2011, it killed more than 15,000 people and destroyed roads, bridges and nuclear reactors. It also damaged around half the transpacific cables connecting the country with the rest of the world. Within just a few days, ships had started lowering remotely operated vehicles (ROV) into the sea to repair the twisted and torn fibre optic cables. To repair fibre-optic cables at depths of
2,500m, the Kokusai Cable Ship Company Ltd (KCS), a Japanese cable installer, turned to the Marcas IV produced by a UK company, Soil Machine Dynamics. Te company is a leading manufacturer of remote intervention equipment, operating in hazardous environments worldwide. With a particular focus on subsea
engineering, SMD has become a major designer and manufacturer of specialist subsea ROVs worldwide. Marcas IV, and similar high-tech ROVs, have ‘multifunctional capabilities – where one asset can do multiple tasks, working with soſt ground and hard
22 FIBRE SYSTEMS Issue 1 • Autumn 2013
hen the world’s first transatlantic cable failed in 1858 – just three weeks aſter it had been inaugurated with a
ground cables,’ says Graeme Walker, SMD’s sales manager. In May, Global Marine Systems (GMS), a
global supplier of submarine cable installation, maintenance and repair services, launched the DXr1 camera – an x-ray camera to monitor the quality of repairs of a cable joint. Its outstanding feature is that it uses digital imaging technology in place of traditional film. Te camera allows a real-time review, so that it is possible to ‘make sure, right there on the ship, whether the cable is connected properly,’ says Anne Dellos LeBoutillier of GMS. Also reducing repair time is new technology
to locate and retrieve broken cable ends, for example with new grapnel hook technology that makes it possible to grab and cut cable ends simultaneously. Tis reduces repair time by a day or more, says Andy Palmer-Felgate, project manager in charge of cable repairs at US telecoms giant Verizon, a company that owns or leases more than 80 cables worldwide.
Underwater challenges
Industry interest in increasing submarine cable capacity is huge, underlined by the recently announced Hawaiki submarine cable system connecting Australia, New Zealand and the USA. With an estimated cost of around $350 million, this promises to provide up to 3Tbps capacity using the latest 100Gbps technology, together with the ability to upgrade to 400Gbps and other future technologies. Tere have also been major advances in the
technology of repeaters, or optical amplifiers. Huawei Marine Networks, a joint venture
Global Marine Systems
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36