ITU Workshop
Submarine Cables for
Ocean/Climate Monitoring & Disaster Warning
The Technology – An Operations Perspective
Mr. Michael Costin
Executive Committee Member
International Cable Protection Committee
Rome - 9 September 2011
www.iscpc.org
International Cable Protection Committee?
• ICPC is an industry body comprising submarine
•
•
cable owners/operators, system manufacturers,
service providers and government stakeholders.
ICPC supports its members with environmental,
legal and technical information and advice
ICPC current prime activities are in:
– Developing best practice advice
– Promoting awareness of submarine cables as critical
infrastructure
– Monitoring the evolution of international treaties and
national legislation to protect submarine cable interests
www.iscpc.org
The Challenge of Change
• Rapid development of offshore renewable energy
• Increased incidence of damage caused by shipping
• Seabed becoming crowded in some areas
• Need to maintain harmony with other seabed users
• Need to ensure harmony with seabed environment
• Need to improve security of submarine cables
• Increased regulation of coastal and high seas
www.iscpc.org
Typical Submarine Cable System
Network
Management
System
Terminal
Equipment
Armoured
Cable
Lightweight
Cable
Repeater
Cable
Station
Source: U.K. Cable Protection Committee & Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks
www.iscpc.org
Submarine Cable Network
• Global submarine cable network comprises
•
•
•
•
hundreds of commercial, independently owned,
domestic and international systems
International systems can cost up to several
hundred million Euros to build.
Project development/build takes 2-4 years
International consortium formation and funding
focussed upon commercial risks.
International project development concerned for
regulatory and permitting issues
www.iscpc.org
Submarine Cable Build
• Cable operators focus upon routing cables for the:
– Safest route to avoid areas of natural (undersea
volcanoes) and man-made (designated anchorage and
trawl zones) hazards and environmental sensitivity
– Shortest possible route so as to minimise latency
• Cable operators aim to apply the best cable type for each
part of the route, having regard for potential threats from
fishing and anchors, whilst minimising cost
• Bury the cable into the seabed to mitigate potential
threats from fishing and anchoring. New cables target
burial up to 3 metres subject to the assessed threat level.
www.iscpc.org
Threats From External Aggression
• Fishing – high
•
•
incidence but impact
restricted to individual
cables
Anchors – medium but
increasing incidence
that can impact
several cables
Natural Hazards (e.g.
earthquakes) – low
incidence but can
impact multiple cables
%
80
Fishing
60
40
Anchors
20
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
Cable faults caused by external aggression
demonstrate the impact of human activities
Base data provided by Tyco Telecommunications & Global Marine Systems
Published in Wood & Carter (2008) IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering
www.iscpc.org
Hengchun 2006: An Earthquake that Caused
Major Disruption to the Cable Network
China
•
Okinawa
Trough
•
Ryuku Trench
•
•
•
Modified from Source: Anderson M., U. Arizona Geosciences
(Source: Prof. Lionel Carter, ICPC
Marine Environmental Advisor)
Earthquake triggered submarine
landslides near the junction of 2
tectonic plates.
Landslides caused turbidity
current that flowed over 330 km
& broke 9 cables in sequence.
From the timing of breaks, the
average speed of the turbidity
current was ~20km/hr.
Damage occurred in water
depths to 4000m - some cables
covered with mud from current.
Cable repairs involved 11 ships &
took 49 days.
www.iscpc.org
Submarine Cable Operation
• Submarine cable system threats can result
in a complete cable breakage or a “shunt”
fault of the cable’s conductor used for
powering repeaters.
• Restoration of traffic when a cable breaks
or for repair of a shunt fault can take days
• Multiple cable breaks can have an impact
of several weeks, even several months
www.iscpc.org
Submarine Cable Maintenance
• Cable repair works typically take 7-10 days
to complete, but the actual duration of a
cable outage will be affected by:
– Location of fault relative to the repair vessel
– Type of fault (i.e. Shunt or complete break)
– Securing any requisite permits/clearances,
which can take up to several weeks
– Weather conditions
• Cable outages can take months to clear.
www.iscpc.org
Multi-Purpose Submarine Cables
• Some power-telecommunications cables
• Issue of primary/priority purpose of cable
• Cable operators do not repair/replace
repeaters with faulted components if the
overall system performance is maintained.
• If a fault arises with the plant/equipment
for the secondary purpose, what priority
will its repair have?
www.iscpc.org
Sharing the seabed in harmony
General Enquiries to ICPC: +44 1590 681673 Email: secretary@iscpc.org
www.iscpc.org