To address the crucial challenge of securing the sub-sea fibre optic cables from damages, companies such as AP Sensing and Optic 11 have developed a new fibre optic sensing technology which can detect disturbances near the subsea cables.
What is it?
Fibre Optic Sensing detects disturbances in light pulses traveling through cables, allowing the management to track and monitor activities like ships moving above, anchor deployment, and human actions such as diving and fishing. This data can be cross-referenced with satellite imagery and automatic identification system [AIS] for verification. With the help of this technology, we can approximate the size of vessel passing above, its location and also, it’s direction of travel.
How does it work?
When pulses of light pass through fibre optic cable, sometimes tiny reflection bounce back along the line. These reflections can be attributed to various factors including temperature, vibration or physical disturbance to the cable itself. When there is a significant change in temperature, vibration or physical disturbance, the fibre optic system can detect the intrusions.
Challenges:
Although the new technology will improve the ability to monitor and secure the fibre optic cables, it has certain limitations. It cannot pick up disturbances from far away. There is a need to install signal listening devices every 100 km along the cable. Additionally, protective metal casting and multiple layers of armour cables remain vulnerable to deliberate anchor dragging. Burying of cables can add extra layer of protection, however it is costly and unfeasible over large distances and great depths. Currently, this technology is deployed in North Sea. It is not yet universally deployed due to cost and infrastructure limitations.
Acoustic sensing is an emerging technology which will gain significant importance in the future. As the fibre optic cables gain strategic importance, the need to monitor and secure the cable infrastructure will rise significantly. While the global cable network includes built-in redundancy to prevent large-scale disruptions, recent attacks on undersea cable infrastructure in the Baltic Sea and Red Sea have emerged as a serious threat to the existing system. The emergence of hybrid warfare and its impact on cable infrastructure is noteworthy.
Disclaimer: This article has reference to expert opinions and open sources including the BBC.
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