A method of submarine cable routing and fault point location

Abstract

The application provides a submarine cable routing and fault point positioning method. Sound waves emitted by two sound sources with known coordinates are received by a sound wave receiving device of the submarine cable. After receiving the sound waves twice continuously, the time difference between the two times when the sound wave receiving device receives the sound waves emitted by the two sound sources twice is obtained, the submarine cable routing is positioned, the fault point is pre-positioned by using a distributed optical fiber sound wave sensing technology, the relative position relationship between the two sound sources and the fault point is obtained based on the sound wave receiving device, the smaller the time difference between the times when the sound wave receiving device receives the sound signals emitted by the two sound sources and the fault point is, the closer the distance between the two sound sources and the fault point is, the two sound sources are moved along the submarine cable routing direction to the fault point until the time difference is smaller than a given value, and the coordinate of the submarine cable routing at this time is taken as the coordinate of the fault point.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of submarine cable fault location and handling technology, and in particular to a method for submarine cable routing and fault location. Background Technology

[0002] Submarine cables are vital for energy transmission and communication in offshore wind power, offshore production, and other scenarios. However, they are affected by the complex marine environment and face various risks of human-caused damage, such as anchor damage and trawl netting, leading to frequent submarine cable failures. To minimize losses from unplanned downtime after a failure occurs, the location of the fault should be identified and repaired as quickly as possible.

[0003] Existing methods for locating submarine cable faults generally combine pre-location and precise location. Pre-location identifies the possible fault range based on the cable length, estimates the latitude and longitude range of that range, and then performs precise location within that range.

[0004] Pre-positioning methods often employ techniques such as the bridge method and low-voltage pulse method. However, the longer the cable, the lower the pre-positioning accuracy, and the significant length of submarine cables impacts pre-positioning accuracy. Precise positioning methods include manual underwater exploration, partial cable retrieval and inspection, magnetic field methods, and acoustic-magnetic synchronization methods. Manual exploration and retrieval are time-consuming due to various factors such as the sea outlet, water conditions, and cable burial status, and prolonged underwater operations pose risks. Electromagnetic fields attenuate rapidly in water, requiring sensors to be located directly above or near the cable fault point for accurate positioning. When sensors do not receive electromagnetic signals, there is a lack of navigation decision-making basis, resulting in low positioning efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To address the shortcomings and deficiencies of existing technologies, this invention is based on the principle of using distributed fiber optic acoustic sensing technology to improve pre-positioning accuracy, as shown in the appendix to the specification. Figure 1 As shown, the underlying principle is that when an optical fiber receives a sound wave, the backscattered light is correspondingly affected. Distributed fiber optic acoustic sensing monitors the intensity and location distribution of the sound waves received by the fiber by emitting light pulses into the fiber and receiving the backscattered light.

[0006] Based on this, the present invention constructs an optimized positioning scheme and provides navigation decisions for sensors during precise positioning, thereby improving the positioning efficiency of submarine cable faults.

[0007] In this invention, a submarine cable acoustic wave receiving device is used to receive acoustic waves emitted by two acoustic sources with known coordinates. After receiving two acoustic waves consecutively, the submarine cable route is located by receiving the time difference between the two acoustic waves emitted by the two sources at a single point. Then, by using the relative positional relationship between the received acoustic waves and the fault point, the acoustic source can quickly move closer to the fault point, thereby improving the positioning efficiency.

[0008] The present invention specifically adopts the following technical solution:

[0009] A method for submarine cable routing and fault location involves using a submarine cable acoustic receiving device to receive sound waves emitted from two sound sources with known coordinates. After receiving two consecutive sound waves, the submarine cable route is located by measuring the time difference between the two sound waves emitted from the two sources at a single point. This is combined with distributed fiber optic acoustic sensing technology for pre-location of the fault point. By considering the relative positional relationship between the two sound sources and the fault point with the acoustic receiving device as a reference, the smaller the time difference between the sound signals received by the acoustic receiving device from the two sound sources and the fault point, the closer the two sound sources are to the fault point. This process encourages the two sound sources to move closer to the fault point along the submarine cable route until the time difference is less than a given value. The submarine cable route location coordinates at this point are then used as the coordinates of the fault point.

[0010] Furthermore, the pre-location of the fault point using distributed optical fiber acoustic wave sensing technology specifically involves: applying a high-voltage pulse to the fault phase using a cable fault location power supply to discharge the fault point and generate an acoustic signal; and using an acoustic wave receiving device to receive the acoustic signal, thereby determining the distance L between the submarine cable fault point and the optical fiber starting point.

[0011] Furthermore, the acoustic wave receiving device using the submarine cable receives acoustic waves emitted from two sound sources with known coordinates. After receiving two consecutive acoustic waves, the device uses the time difference between the two emission times from the two sound sources to achieve submarine cable route positioning. The specific implementation method is as follows:

[0012] Two sound sources are placed at two different locations on the hull. The sound wave signals emitted by the two sound sources are tunable and do not overlap in the frequency domain, and they emit sound waves simultaneously.

[0013] The ship is sailed to the vicinity of the cable fault point and approaches the cable along a path perpendicular to the route. During this process, sound sources continue to be emitted. When the sound wave receiving device receives sound waves from two sound sources twice in a row, the positioning is initiated. By using the known locations of the two sound sources, the time when the sound sources are emitted, and the time when the sound wave receiving device receives the two sound sources, multiple measurements of the emitted sound waves are performed to obtain the coordinate positions of each point on the cable segment.

[0014] Furthermore, the specific method for obtaining the coordinate positions of each point on the submarine cable segment is as follows:

[0015] Let the wave velocities of the sound waves emitted by sound source 1 and sound source 2 in water be v1 and v2, respectively. Consider the following scenarios when sound waves are emitted consecutively:

[0016] Sound source 1 is located at (x1, y1, d1), and sound source 2 is located at (x2, y2, d2), where d is the water depth. The first occurrence time is T1. At the same time, the sound waves are received at any point P(x, y, d) of the submarine cable corresponding to the two sound waves. The time when sound source 1 is received is t1, and the time when sound source 2 is received is t2.

[0017] Sound source 1 is located at (x3, y3, d3), and sound source 2 is located at (x4, y4, d4), where d is the water depth. The second occurrence occurs at time T2. At any point P(x, y, d) on the submarine cable corresponding to the two sound waves, the sound wave from sound source 1 is received at time t3, and the sound wave from sound source 2 is received at time t4.

[0018] Based on the above two consecutive sound wave cases, the equation regarding position P can be derived as follows:

[0019]

[0020]

[0021]

[0022]

[0023] Solve the equations simultaneously to obtain the coordinates of each point on the submarine cable segment corresponding to the simultaneous reception of two sound waves.

[0024] Furthermore, the specific method for locating the fault point by adjusting the relative positions of the two sound sources (based on the sound wave receiving device) towards the fault point is as follows:

[0025] When the sound range of the two sound sources on the ship has not yet covered the fault point, the sound source receiving device can determine the relative position of the sound wave receiving position and the fault point by receiving the sound waves emitted by the sound sources.

[0026] When two consecutive sounds simultaneously cover the fault point, the coordinates of the fault point are determined based on the calculation results of the submarine cable route location.

[0027] And a corresponding submarine cable routing and fault location device, including a submarine cable acoustic receiving device and two acoustic sources with known coordinates installed on a ship; by implementing the above method, the fault location of the submarine cable can be achieved.

[0028] The implementation process can be carried out by manually operating the ship to perform the above methods, or a separate control module can be set up to control the ship and simultaneously calculate the coordinates through a coded program.

[0029] Furthermore, the ship is also equipped with a positioning module and a navigation module; the positioning module is used to obtain the position coordinates of the two sound sources in real time; the navigation module is used for navigation of the ship during navigation and approach to the fault point.

[0030] Furthermore, it also includes a calculation module for calculating the submarine cable route location; wherein:

[0031] Let the wave velocities of the sound waves emitted by sound source 1 and sound source 2 in water be v1 and v2, respectively. Consider the following scenarios when sound waves are emitted consecutively:

[0032] Sound source 1 is located at (x1, y1, d1), and sound source 2 is located at (x2, y2, d2), where d is the water depth. The first occurrence time is T1. At the same time, the sound waves are received at any point P(x, y, d) of the submarine cable corresponding to the two sound waves. The time when sound source 1 is received is t1, and the time when sound source 2 is received is t2.

[0033] Sound source 1 is located at (x3, y3, d3), and sound source 2 is located at (x4, y4, d4), where d is the water depth. The second occurrence occurs at time T2. At any point P(x, y, d) on the submarine cable corresponding to the two sound waves, the sound wave from sound source 1 is received at time t3, and the sound wave from sound source 2 is received at time t4.

[0034] Based on the above two consecutive sound wave cases, the equation regarding position P can be derived as follows:

[0035]

[0036]

[0037]

[0038]

[0039] Solve the equations simultaneously to obtain the coordinates of each point on the submarine cable segment corresponding to the simultaneous reception of two sound waves.

[0040] And an electronic device, including a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor executes the program to implement the steps of a submarine cable routing and fault location method as described above.

[0041] A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program thereon, characterized in that, when executed by a processor, the computer program implements the steps of a submarine cable routing and fault location method as described above.

[0042] Compared with existing technologies, the present invention and its preferred solutions can achieve higher accuracy and efficiency in submarine cable fault location, without relying on special and complex equipment, effectively saving manpower and material costs. Attached Figure Description

[0043] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the principle upon which the solution of this invention is based.

[0044] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0045] In the following, specific embodiments of this application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Based on these detailed descriptions, those skilled in the art will be able to clearly understand and implement this application. Without departing from the principles of this application, features from various embodiments can be combined to obtain new implementations, or certain features from some embodiments can be substituted to obtain other preferred implementations.

[0046] It should be noted that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments according to this application. As used herein, the singular form is intended to include the plural form as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Furthermore, it should be understood that when the terms "comprising" and / or "including" are used in this specification, they indicate the presence of features, steps, operations, devices, components, and / or combinations thereof.

[0047] To make the features and advantages of this patent more apparent and understandable, specific embodiments are provided below for detailed explanation:

[0048] like Figure 2 As shown, the solution implemented in this embodiment is... Figure 1 Based on the schematic diagram, it is implemented by installing a surveying vessel with two sound sources. The surveying vessel is also equipped with a positioning module to obtain real-time coordinates and a navigation module to calibrate the course in real time based on the positioning information to ensure that it does not deviate from the route of the submarine cable. These devices are all existing conventional devices.

[0049] Based on this, the detailed implementation process of the submarine cable routing and fault location method provided in this embodiment is as follows:

[0050] 1. Pre-location of fault point:

[0051] (1) A high-voltage pulse is applied to the fault phase by a cable fault location power supply to discharge the fault point and generate an audible signal;

[0052] (2) Use an acoustic receiving device to receive the above sound signals and determine the distance L between the submarine cable fault point and the optical fiber starting point.

[0053] 2. Submarine cable route location:

[0054] (1) Place two sound sources on both sides of the ship (for ease of calculation and explanation, they can actually be placed in any position of the research equipment, as long as there is a certain distance between the two sound sources). The sound wave signals emitted by the two sound sources can be tuned and do not overlap in the frequency domain. The two sound sources emit sound waves at the same time.

[0055] (2) When the ship sails to the area near the fault point of the submarine cable, it first approaches the submarine cable along a direction perpendicular to the route. During this process, the sound source continues to generate sound. When the sound wave receiving device receives the sound waves from the two sound sources twice in a row, the positioning can be started.

[0056] (3) Let the wave velocities of the sound waves emitted by sound source 1 and sound source 2 in water be v1 and v2, respectively. In the case of two consecutive sound waves emitted:

[0057] 1) Sound source 1 is located at (x1, y1, d1), and sound source 2 is located at (x2, y2, d2), where d is the water depth. The first occurrence occurs at time T1. At any point P(x, y, d) on the submarine cable that receives both sound waves, the time when sound source 1 is received is t1, and the time when sound source 2 is received is t2.

[0058] 2) Sound source 1 is located at (x3, y3, d3), and sound source 2 is located at (x4, y4, d4), where d is the water depth. The second occurrence occurs at time T2. At any point P(x, y, d) on the submarine cable that receives both sound waves, the sound wave from source 1 is received at time t3, and the sound wave from source 2 is received at time t4.

[0059] 3) Then, based on the above two consecutive sound wave cases, an equation about position P can be derived:

[0060]

[0061]

[0062]

[0063]

[0064] Solving the system of equations simultaneously yields the precise coordinates of each point on the submarine cable segment that received two sound waves at the same time.

[0065] 4) By analogy, after the third sound wave is emitted, the precise coordinates of each point on the submarine cable segment that received both sound waves can be calculated based on the reception of the third and second sound waves.

[0066] 3. Fault location:

[0067] (1) Initially, the range of the sound source may not have covered the fault point, but the sound source receiving device learns the relative position of the sound wave receiving position and the fault point position by receiving the sound wave emitted by the sound source. The sound source is the coastal cable route that runs parallel to the fault location.

[0068] (2) When two consecutive sounds cover the fault point at the same time, the precise coordinates of the fault point can be obtained based on the aforementioned submarine cable route positioning principle.

[0069] It should be noted that, unless otherwise defined, the technical or scientific terms used in this invention should have the ordinary meaning understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention pertains. The terms "first," "second," and similar terms used in this invention do not indicate any order, quantity, or importance, but are merely used to distinguish different components. Terms such as "comprising" or "including" mean that the element or object preceding the word encompasses the elements or objects listed following the word and their equivalents, without excluding other elements or objects. Terms such as "connected" or "linked" are not limited to physical or mechanical connections, but can include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect. Terms such as "upper," "lower," "left," and "right" are used only to indicate relative positional relationships; when the absolute position of the described object changes, the relative positional relationship may also change accordingly.

[0070] This patent is not limited to the above-described preferred embodiments. Anyone can derive other forms of submarine cable routing and fault location methods based on the inspiration of this patent. All equivalent changes and modifications made within the scope of this patent application shall fall within the scope of this patent.

Claims

1. A method for submarine cable routing and fault location, characterized in that: The submarine cable acoustic wave receiving device receives sound waves emitted by two sound sources with known coordinates. After receiving two consecutive sound waves, the submarine cable route is located by the time difference between the two sound waves emitted by the two sound sources received at a single point. Then, the pre-location of the fault point is achieved by using distributed optical fiber acoustic wave sensing technology. Based on the relative position relationship between the two sound sources and the fault point with the acoustic wave receiving device as the reference, the smaller the time difference between the sound signals received by the acoustic wave receiving device from the two sound sources and the fault point, the closer the two sound sources are to the fault point. The two sound sources are moved closer to the fault point along the submarine cable route until the time difference is less than a given value. The coordinates of the submarine cable route at this time are used as the coordinates of the fault point. The acoustic receiving device using submarine cables receives acoustic waves emitted from two sound sources with known coordinates. After receiving two consecutive acoustic waves, the device uses the time difference between the two emission times from the two sound sources to achieve submarine cable route positioning. The specific implementation method is as follows: Two sound sources are placed at two different locations on the hull. The sound wave signals emitted by the two sound sources are tunable and do not overlap in the frequency domain, and they emit sound waves simultaneously. The ship is sailed to the vicinity of the submarine cable fault point and approaches the cable along a path perpendicular to the route. During this process, sound sources continue to be emitted. When the sound wave receiving device receives sound waves from two sound sources twice in a row, the positioning is initiated. By using the known locations of the two sound sources, the time when the sound sources are emitted, and the time when the sound wave receiving device receives the two sound sources, multiple measurements of the emitted sound waves are performed to solve for the coordinate positions of each point on the submarine cable segment. The specific method for locating the fault point by using the relative positional relationship between the two sound sources (based on the sound wave receiving device) and the fault point, thereby bringing the two sound sources closer to the fault point, is as follows: When the sound range of the two sound sources on the ship has not yet covered the fault point, the sound source receiving device can determine the relative position of the sound wave receiving position and the fault point by receiving the sound waves emitted by the sound sources. When two consecutive sounds simultaneously cover the fault point, the coordinates of the fault point are determined based on the calculation results of the submarine cable route location.

2. The method for submarine cable routing and fault location according to claim 1, characterized in that: The pre-location of the fault point using distributed fiber optic acoustic sensing technology specifically involves: applying a high-voltage pulse to the fault phase using a cable fault location power supply to discharge the fault point and generate an acoustic signal; and using an acoustic receiving device to receive the acoustic signal, thereby determining the distance L between the submarine cable fault point and the starting point of the optical fiber.

3. The method for submarine cable routing and fault location according to claim 1, characterized in that: The specific method for obtaining the coordinate positions of each point on the submarine cable segment is as follows: Let the wave velocities of the sound waves emitted by sound source 1 and sound source 2 in water be v1 and v2, respectively. Consider the following scenarios when sound waves are emitted consecutively: Sound source 1 is located at (x1, y1, d1), and sound source 2 is located at (x2, y2, d2), where d is the water depth. The first occurrence time is T1. At the same time, the sound waves are received at any point P(x, y, d) of the submarine cable corresponding to the two sound waves. The time when sound source 1 is received is t1, and the time when sound source 2 is received is t2. Sound source 1 is located at (x3, y3, d3), and sound source 2 is located at (x4, y4, d4), where d is the water depth. The second occurrence occurs at time T2. At any point P(x, y, d) on the submarine cable corresponding to the two sound waves, the sound wave from sound source 1 is received at time t3, and the sound wave from sound source 2 is received at time t4. Based on the above two consecutive sound wave cases, the equation regarding position P can be derived as follows: Solve the equations simultaneously to obtain the coordinates of each point on the submarine cable segment corresponding to the simultaneous reception of two sound waves.

4. A device for locating submarine cable routes and fault points, characterized in that: It includes a sound wave receiving device for the submarine cable and two sound sources with known coordinates installed on the ship; by implementing the method as described in any one of claims 1-3, the fault point of the submarine cable is located.

5. The submarine cable routing and fault location device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The ship is also equipped with a positioning module and a navigation module; the positioning module is used to obtain the position coordinates of the two sound sources in real time; the navigation module is used for navigation of the ship during navigation and approach to the fault point.

6. The submarine cable routing and fault location device according to claim 4, characterized in that: It also includes a calculation module for calculating submarine cable route location: Let the wave velocities of the sound waves emitted by sound source 1 and sound source 2 in water be v1 and v2, respectively. Consider the following scenarios when sound waves are emitted consecutively: Sound source 1 is located at (x1, y1, d1), and sound source 2 is located at (x2, y2, d2), where d is the water depth. The first occurrence time is T1. At the same time, the sound waves are received at any point P(x, y, d) of the submarine cable corresponding to the two sound waves. The time when sound source 1 is received is t1, and the time when sound source 2 is received is t2. Sound source 1 is located at (x3, y3, d3), and sound source 2 is located at (x4, y4, d4), where d is the water depth. The second occurrence occurs at time T2. At any point P(x, y, d) on the submarine cable corresponding to the two sound waves, the sound wave from sound source 1 is received at time t3, and the sound wave from sound source 2 is received at time t4. Based on the above two consecutive sound wave cases, the equation regarding position P can be derived as follows: Solve the equations simultaneously to obtain the coordinates of each point on the submarine cable segment corresponding to the simultaneous reception of two sound waves.

7. An electronic device comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, characterized in that, When the processor executes the program, it implements the steps of a submarine cable routing and fault location method as described in any one of claims 1-3.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that, When executed by a processor, the computer program implements the steps of a submarine cable routing and fault location method as described in any one of claims 1-3.

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