Submarine Cable System

Functions & Repair

Mark Tinka
Head of Engineering
SEACOM

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IP Cloud

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World Submarine NW Map

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DWDM

WDM (Wavelength Division Mul2plexing), it uses different wavelengths on the same

fibre & is totally protocol independent (SDH, ATM, Ethernet…)

It is known as Dense Wavelength Division Mul2plex (DWDM) when the wavelengths
are close (a few nm.)
For a DWDM Transmission system, 40/80 or at present 160 or more wavelengths in
Op2cal C-Band (1530nm to 1565nm wavelength spectrum) can be carried on one
fibre.

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Why DWDM

a) Overcome fiber exhaust / lack of fiber availability

problems (better utilization of available fiber)

b) Space and Power savings at intermediate stations

c) Easier capacity expansion

d) Cost effective transmission

e) No O-E-O conversion delays

f) Wave length leasing instead of Bandwidth leasing

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Evolution of Submarine Transmission Technology

SDH & DWDM combined

SDH and DWDM are complementary.

SDH provides:
•  flexibility
•  resilience in case of failure

DWDM provides:
•  very high bandwidth

So For higher bandwidth transmission over a longer distance

on the International network across continents/countries, SDH
& DWDM combinely evolves to Submarine Transmission
network

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Submarine Fiber Optic Network system

SLTE, PFE, LME,

NMS and DCN

Fully integrated Undersea System

Using with -

Cables
Repeaters
Branching Units
Terminal Equipment

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 What makes a Submarine Cable Network

Terminal Power Feeding Cable Branching unit Repeater

Equipment Equipment

Cable
station

Network Management
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Undersea Cables

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Double Armoured Cable – For Deep & Rocky Seabed for double protection

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Functions of Submarine Network

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Functions & Terminologies

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Submarine Wetplant & components

Wet plant comprises the following equipment/components:

Ø  Undersea Cable
Ø  Land Cable
Ø  Optical Fiber
Ø  Cable joints
Ø  Undersea Repeaters
Ø  Gain equalizers
Ø  Branching Units
Ø 

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 Major Components of Submarine system

SLTE &
Wetplant NMS
NMS
Cable Station

SL-17
Full Fiber Drop CTE Beach TRPDR λ 1
Undersea RL Cable
Branching Unit Joint WTE
Cable N Channels TRPDR λ 2
HV Power +
TLA
HV Shield TRPDR λ 3 ADM
Undersea STM-16/
Repeater
PLINB
Ÿ STM-64
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ground TRPDR λ n
Ocean LTE #1
Ground
TRPDR λ 1
OGPP PFE
N Channels TRPDR λ 2
TRPDR Transponder
ADM
TRPDR λ 3
HV : High Voltage
LME : Line Monitoring Equipment Building Ÿ
OGPP : Ocean Ground Protection Panel Ground Ÿ STM-16/
PFE : Power Feed Equipment Ÿ STM-64
COTDR LME
RL : Rodent Lightning TRPDR λ n

LTE #2
TLA : Terminal Line Amplifier
WTE: Wavelength Termination Equipment

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Submarine Transmission Line Terminating Equipment

TRPDR WTE
λ1 Note: Any module of the LTE may not be
included depending on the specific
1 requirements of the system (distance, bit
IP
rate, SDH or SONET equipment, etc.)
λ2
2
ADM

10 Gbps One
(S-64.2) Fiber-Pair
Interface Line Amp
OXC λN-1
N-1
N x 10Gbps

ATM
λN Submarine
N
Cable

(optional) ILE

Line Monitoring Wavelengths

(only for repeatered systems)
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UnderSea Repeaters

Repeaters use state-of-the-art optical amplifier

technology to achieve high performance and
reliability in the transmission of multiple
wavelength channel signals on multiple fiber
pairs which normally use 980nm Pump for
boosting up optical signal

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Inside Repeater & different types

Amplifier Pair Chassis

Locking Plate

Heat Transfer Plate

Supervisory

Erbium Amplifiers Power Supply

Pump Unit
Control Circuit

Ø  1/2/3/4 up-to 8 Amplifier pairs per Repeater

Ø  Low/High Gain Repeaters.
Ø  Low noise & Wide BW Repeaters
Ø  980 nm Pumps used in Repeaters.

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Gain Equalisers

Gain Equalizer function is needed for every 5-10 spans depending on the
total length of system. It is required because of non-flat nature of EDFA
amplifier to compensate the gain which results with wider range of
wavelength for traffic.

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Branching Unit
Branching units (BUs) are designed for use in systems having three or more landing sites.
Optical signals are routed among the three cables that connect to the BUs.
There are different types of BU’s. These BU can be controlled for electrical connections relay
from the landing station SLTE equipment using commands on the same Optical channel.

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 Types of BU
1.  Passive BU – The Electrical connections/branches can’t be switched or controlled from
Station & it is electrically passive & doesn’t consume any electrical power. Also it is optically
passive, means no Adding/Dropping of Wavelengths among three legs.

2.  Power Switched BU – This type BU provides controllable electrical connections among the
three cable legs, as well as to the sea-ground electrode built into the trunk leg cable
termination. The electrical connectivity within the 34A-Type BU is controlled
on a powered system by means of an optical command
signal & it will have a command receiver.

3.  Power Switched OADM BU – It is similar to Power

switched BU, but having optical add/drop functionality
using a OADM inside the BU, which makes
it optically & electrically controllable among three legs.

4.  Non-power switched BU – It is similar to Passive BU, but having OADM functionality.

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PFE

Under Sea Repeaters requires power for operation of Electronics

circuit & the Power Feed Equipment (PFE) provides power to the
these repeaters & Power switched BU.

These PFEs supply the power to undersea equipment in

redundant arrangements called as dual end feed, for continuous
operation even in the event of one PFE converter failure.

Different types of PFE from all SubSea suppliers available,

depending on the power supply capability to feed the system,
like 10Kv, 5Kv etc.

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PFE – Submarine System powering overview

Current
PFE PFE
+ -
Virtual Ground

Station A Station B

Example of a Trunk Point to Point Powering System

PSBU 1 PSBU 2
Current
PFE PFE
+ -

Station A Station B
PFE PFE
- -
Station C Station D

Example of a Normal Powering scenario for a Trunk and Branch Configuration

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Fault Isolation & Repair in Wetplant

4  Detection and localization of Subsea faults

Ø  Two categories
- Optical
- Electrical

Ø 
Ø Electrical and optical faults can
occur simultaneously (cable break)
and separately (damaged or broken
fibers with the power path intact,
and insulation fault between the
power path and the sea, commonly
known as shunt fault, with fibers
intact.

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 Types of SubSea Fault

Ø  Type 1 fault - Cable break for the cable being cut, with a break in the
electrical insulation between seawater and
the power-feeding conductor.
Outer Cable
HV conductor

Fiber

Ø 
Type 2 fault - Open fault for the cable being cut, without breaking the
electrical insulation between seawater and the power-feeding conductor.

Type 3 fault - Shunt fault for a break in the electrical insulation between
seawater and the power-feeding conductor, without this conductor itself been
cut.

Outer Cable

Ø  Type 4 fault - damage in the optical path without significant electrical

alteration of the power-feeding conductor continuity and insulation.
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 Fault Localization techniques

Ø  Single-end DC measurements
Type 1- Cable Break
Type 3 – Shunt Fault
Only accurate if you precisely remove contribution of repeaters and fault.

Ø  Capacitive Method
Type 2 - Open fault

Ø  Conjugate Method (current-balance)

Type 3 – Shunt Fault
Accurate but also requires removal of contribution of the repeaters.

Ø  Optical Path (OTDR/COTDR)

Type 4 - Optical Fault only
OTDR only good to first repeater.

Ø  Electrical Path fault

- Power Feed (output variation/ohms law)
- PEFL (impedance mismatch)
- DC Testing (IR, IC and CR)
- Electroding (detection of a magnetic field due to applied tone)
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 Optical Fault Localization
What is a OTDR?
Optical Time Domain Reflectometer - also known as an OTDR, is a hardware
device used for measurement of the elapsed time and intensity of light
reflected on optical fiber.
How it works?
The reflectometer can compute the distance to problems on the fiber such
as attenuation and breaks, making it a useful tool in optical network
troubleshooting.
The intensity of the return pulses is measured and integrated as a function
of time, and is plotted as a function of fiber length.

What is a COTDR?
Coherent Optical Time Domain Reflectometer - also known as a
COTDR, An instrument that is used to perform out of service backscattered
light measurements on optically amplified line systems.
How it works?
A fiber pair is tested by launching a test signal into the out going fiber and
receiving the scattered light on the in-coming fiber. Light scattered in the
transmission fiber is coupled to the incoming fiber in the loop-back couplers in
each amplifier pair in a repeater.
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OTDR Vs COTDR

Repeater Repeater Repeater

Light Pulse
OTDR
HLLB HLLB HLLB
Backscatter

OTDR can only measure

up-to first repeater

Repeater Repeater Repeater

Light Pulse

COTDR HLLB HLLB HLLB

Backscatter

OTDR can cross the repeaters & can

measure till opposite end terminal
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COTDR Measurement plot

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 Electrical path Fault Localization

Subsea cable Electrical path fault (Shunt Fault) localization is a manual process & no
automatic measuring equipment/testers are available. This requires tedious calculations
from PFE voltage & cable properties, before & after fault occurs. Below are some of the
techniques used for this.

1.  Power Feed (output variation/ohms law) – Using the simple ohms law formula for
voltage/Impedance calculation, approx. fault location to be calculated. This is called
power budget calculation.
Total PFE voltage(Segment voltage) = Cable voltage drop + BU drop + Repeater drop + earth resistance

2.  PEFL (impedance mismatch)

3.  DC Testing (IR, IC and CR) – This is normally done from cable repair ship for checking
the cable continuity & post repair checks.

4.  Electroding (detection of a magnetic field due to applied tone) from Terminal PFE.
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Electroding

Electroding technique is sending low-frequency AC tone from Terminal

PFE, using the capabilities of the PFE coupled & with special detection
equipment
having low-current dc and low-frequency resistance and capacitance
measurements which can be used in repair ship to find out the exact fault.
Electroding is used for different purpose.
1.  To identify the exact location of fault in a suspected span, either
shunt or cable break from ship.
2.  To identify & pickup the exact cable system, out of many cables
laid on Seabed, during a repair activity from ship.

Fault Detected at
Tone leakage
point
X
Electroding Signal Low frequency A.C
tone
4Hz to 50Hz

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Subsea Cable repair

• The damaged Under Sea part of cable is repaired by specially equipped cable
ships
• A number of Cable ships are strategically located in different regions
• Damaged portion of the cable will be lifted and removed by the cable ship and
join again with a new piece of cable
• The operation will take usually 10-15 days depending upon the distance of
cable fault, Nature of the fault, spare availability in the ship and weather
conditions.

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 A Shunt Fault

Shunt Fault – Shunt Fault –

Dual end PFE Feed, Single end Feed,
Not Service affecting Service affecting

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Cable Joints

Cable joints connect similar types of cable on land and at sea during
initial cable laying & during a repair operation.

Sea Cable Joints

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Sub Marine cable System visual tour

Sub Marine cable system Video

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CABLES AROUND AFRICA

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 Thank You
Q&A
mark.tinka@seacom.mu

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