Subsea Optical Network Trunk Segmentation and Power Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Submarine optical communication cables face high initial costs and single-point failure risks, limiting their viability for intercontinental communication due to the need for highly engineered, high-availability cables that are costly to maintain and prone to failure if one section malfunctions.
Innovation Solution
A communication system with low-availability communication trunks that reroute traffic and cease power delivery upon fault notification, utilizing software-defined networking controllers and backup signal amplifiers to maintain high-availability network performance across multiple trunks, reducing reliance on single high-availability cables and optimizing power usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If highly engineered high-availability cables are used to ensure reliable communication, then communication reliability is improved, but initial cable cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The communication system is divided into multiple independent communication trunks, each with its own power cable and signal amplifiers. This segmentation allows individual trunks to fail without affecting the entire network, providing reliability through diversity rather than through over-engineering each individual cable.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple low-availability communication trunks are combined to form a high-availability communication network. By merging multiple independent paths, the overall system achieves high availability even though individual trunks have lower reliability, avoiding the need for expensive highly-engineered cables.
2Loss of energy
If power feeding voltage is increased to reduce power loss in copper cables, then power delivery efficiency is improved, but fault risk increases due to potential cable operation failures
Solution Approach 1:
The power delivery system is segmented into multiple independent power cables, each serving a specific communication trunk. This allows the system to operate at lower, safer voltages per cable while maintaining overall efficiency through redundancy, rather than pushing high voltage through single cables.
Solution Approach 2:
The system accepts that individual power cables and communication trunks may fail (low availability) but uses redundancy to ensure continuous service. Rather than investing in highly reliable, expensive power delivery infrastructure, the system uses multiple replaceable lower-cost components.
3Reliability
If a single communication trunk fails, then the entire communication system fails due to single-point failure risk, but using multiple trunks increases system complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The network is segmented into multiple independent communication trunks with separate power cables and signal amplifiers. This segmentation creates independent failure domains, eliminating single-point failures while keeping each individual trunk relatively simple in design.
Solution Approach 2:
Each communication trunk is designed as a universal, standardized unit that can perform the same function independently. This universality simplifies the overall architecture by repeating proven designs rather than creating complex customized solutions, making the system easier to manage despite having multiple trunks.
4Reliability
If backup signal amplifiers are implemented to maintain communication during amplifier failure, then communication reliability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Each signal amplifier is segmented into a main amplifier and a backup amplifier that can be independently activated. This segmentation allows the backup to take over only when needed, maintaining reliability without requiring complex real-time switching mechanisms for the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The backup signal amplifier is prepared in advance and can immediately take over when the main amplifier fails. This preliminary preparation of backup capacity eliminates the need for complex real-time decision-making or reconfiguration, simply requiring a switch to the pre-positioned backup component.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system achieves cost-effective, high-availability transoceanic communication by rerouting traffic and optimizing power delivery, ensuring continuous communication even if individual trunks fail, thereby reducing the overall cost and increasing the reliability of intercontinental data transmission.
Implementation Method 1
Each submarine repeater includes multiple Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFA) and an amplifier for the signal in each fiber. Each EDFA has a gain sufficient to compensate for the loss experienced by the signal during its propagation in the previous section of optical fiber cable.
Implementation Method 2
The power feed equipment is configured to deliver power along each communication trunk to power at least one signal amplifier of the communication trunk.
Implementation Method 3
Due to nonzero electrical resistivity of copper, even with large copper area conductor having a resistance as low as 1 Ohm/kilometer, power feeding voltage drops by 60 Volts at each section of cable, so that about half of power feeding voltage is lost due to heat dissipation in copper for the cable.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A
Figure 2B
AI summary
A communication system (200, 200a-e) includes a first and second trunk terminals (110, 110a-b), a plurality of communication trunks (222, 400), and power feed equipment (212). Each communication trunk couples the first trunk terminal to the second trunk terminal and includes at least one signal amplifier (300) configured to amplify a signal (266) conveyed along the corresponding communication trunk. The power feed equipment is coupled to the plurality of communication trunks and is configured to deliver power along each communication trunk to power the at least one signal amplifier of the communication trunk. The power feed equipment is also configured to receive a shunt fault notification (214) identifying an electrical shunt fault along a faulted communication trunk of the plurality of communication trunks. In response to the shunt fault notification, the power feed equipment is configured to cease delivery of power along at least one communication trunk.