84

Offshore Energy Edition

DOWNLOADS TO DATE

WEBSITE TRAFFIC - UNIQUE VIS ITSTOTAL HITS IN 2015 :

6 , 763 ,782

47,9352-15

Issue #15 - Released 8-15

469,

928

47,6

68

Issue #83 - Released 7-15 Issue #14 - Released 5-1557

2,75

1Issue #13 - Released 2-15

486,

627

53,3853-15

49,8414-15

60,3

28

Issue #81 - Released 3-15

56,2

57

Issue #82 - Released 5-15

50,2425-15

49,0426-15

47,8507-15

51,8438-15

Welcome to STF’s Issue 84, our Off-shore Energy edition.

“God, give me another oil boom, and I promise not to blow it this time!”

Over the years I have seen a num-ber of versions of this pithy bumper sticker maxim – most of which were less civil – but the sentiment remains the same; give me enough trade today with the requisite time to plan for the years of want.

I attended a closed meeting in Houston in 2014 with a major Oil & Gas player that left few other im-pressions for where the industry saw things going. In fact, I was sur-prised how quickly they had begun ratcheting down their Telecoms infrastructure investment in antic-ipation of the coming year or more. And since that time I have watched the price of oil drop from what was ~$65 per barrel to a recent close of under $45, or a further reduction of some 45%.

Since last year, speculation on the direction and impact of the price of a barrel on the Oil & Gas industry has been rife. Concurrently, Tele-coms infrastructure spending has

reduced considerably by tradition-al offshore companies, while the newer onshore fracking players are investing little in order to service their outstanding debt. Investors.com recently concluded:

“The Energy Information Adminis-tration said Friday that 83% of the operating cash at U.S. companies with onshore activity was devoted to debt repayments from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, marking the highest rate since at least 2012.”

So, does this mean only doom and gloom for this indus-try’s future? Maybe yes; maybe no.

Analysts much smarter than me are calling for considerable in-dustry consoli-dation. I would guess that a lot of onshore frack-ing operations will be available on the cheap in the near term. In hand, new offshore explo-ration and production

areas will be opening up in the fu-ture (Arctic, US East Coast, etc.), which will eventually require ad-vanced Telecoms. The question is not whether these offshore facilities will require submarine fiber, but when?

Lastly, and not coincidentally, that ‘epic’ Bruce Willis motion picture, Armageddon opines:

President: Dan, we didn’t see this thing coming?

Dan: Well, our object collision budget’s a million dollars that al-lows us to track about 3% of the sky, and beg’n your pardon sir, but it’s a big-ass sky!

Wayne Nielsen is the Founder and Publisher of Submarine Telecoms Forum, and previously in 1991, founded and published “Soundings”, a print magazine developed for then BT Marine. In 1998, he founded and published for SAIC the magazine, “Real Time”, the industry’s first electronic magazine. He has written a number of industry papers and articles over the years, and is the author of two published novels, Semblance of Balance (2002, 2014) and Snake Dancer’s Song (2004).

+1.703.444.2527

wnielsen@subtelforum.com

4 ExordiumWayne Nielsen

8 Advertiser Index

10 News Now

18 The New NormalProjects Delayed Amidst Tumbling Oil PricesKieran Clark

30 The High Cost of Cheap OilStephen Nielsen

38 Using Acoustic Fibre Optics In WellsaDigital Energy Journal

52 Submarine Cable Upgrades & TechnologyJas Dhooper & Salon Ma

In This Issue...74 How Do Offshore

Communications Work?Rigzone

84 Back ReflectionStewart Ash

90 Advertiser’s CornerKristian Nielsen

94 CodaKevin G. Summers

Advertiser IndexHuawei Marine Networks www.huaweimarine.com 72

OFS www.ofsoptics.com 28

SubOptic www.suboptic.org 16

Terabit Consulting www.terabitconsulting.com 50

WFN Strategies www.wfnstrategies.com 82

The world’s expanding treasure

Celebrating

of SubOptic

30years

Sponsorship and Exhibition Opportunities are now available online and our Call for

Papers will be issued in June 2015

Hosted by

Emerging Subsea Networks

ACE Submarine Cable: Two Firms Running for Technical Survey Contract

Alcatel-Lucent And Ocean Networks To Extend South America Pacific Link

Alcatel-Lucent And Telefónica Carry Out 100G Upgrade Of PENCAN Undersea Cable Systems

Almanac Issue 15 is Available Now

AquaComms to Present in the Global Cable Project Showcase at Submarine Network World 2015

C&W Networks Launching New Submarine Cable System: Pacific Caribbean Cable System (PCCS)

China Unicom Builds International Submarine Cable Link

Clive Palmer Will Back Undersea Internet Cable Bid to Sunshine Coast

NewsNow

Davao’s ICT Prexy Calls For The Passage Of BBL

Docomo Eyes Connecting Rota, Tinian To Proposed Submarine Cable

Docomo Says It Will Invest Over $10M in Installing New Telecom Cable

DOCOMO Will Lay Cable for the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands

Ezecom, Symphony, TM Start Submarine Cable Deployment

FCC To Extend Service Outage Reporting To Subsea Systems

Fiber Optic Cable Loses To Budget Hearings

First Installation of New Repeater Following Successful Sea Trials

Govt Approves Finland-Germany Submarine Cable Link

NewsNow

Hexatronic to Provide Subsea Cable Worth 10 MSEK to Global Submarine Installer

Hexatronic to Show Groundbreaking New Products at Elmässan Exhibition

Hibernia Express Marks Another Major Milestone

Hibernia Express Transatlantic Subsea Cable is Ready for Service

High-Speed €200m Fibre Optic Cable Comes Ashore At Garretstown Beach

Huawei Marine And The WACS Consortium Complete Upgrades

Huawei Marine Completes Marine Installation of Nigeria-Cameroon Submarine Cable System

Improved Submarine Cable Reporting Rules Proposed

Infinera’s New Time-based Instant Bandwidth Technology Recovers AJC Submarine Network Outage

Libya’s Land Phone Line System Breaks Down After Cables Were Damaged

MainOne Extends Submarine Cable System to Cameroun

MainOne’s MDX-i Taps Azure to Offer Cloud Services in West Africa

NEC to Build SKR1M Submarine Cable System in Malaysia

Nexans Celebrates 100 Years

Nexans Delivers Submarine Fibre Optic Cables to West-Africa

OMS Launches Malaysian-Flagged Submarine Cable Installation Barge

Palau Senators Urge Support For Fiber Optic Cable Project

NewsNow

PLDT Plans First International Cable Landing Station In Mindanao

PNCC Given Exclusive Rights Over All Telecom in Palau

Senate Votes to Protect Domestic Submarine Cables

SubOptic 2016 Abstract Due Date Extended to September 30

Supplement Issue 4 Available

Telefonica Boosts Colombian Capacity by 200% with PCCS Cable

This Week in Submarine Telecoms August 31-September 4

This Week in Submarine Telecoms September 7-11

TIME dotCom Q2 2015 Revenue Up 5.2%

TM, TTdC To Develop, Construct Submarine Cable System

Turnbull Backs Coast’s Plan for Undersea Broadband Cable

Week Ahead: FCC Readies for September Meeting

Weekly Wrap-Up August 10-14

Weekly Wrap-Up August 24-28

Weekly Wrap-Up August 3-7

Xtera Completed the Loading of Its Second Repeatered Subsea Cable System Project

The world’s expanding treasure

Celebrating

of SubOptic

30years

Sponsorship, Exhibition booths and Hospitality Rooms are still Available – Go to www.suboptic.org to see

reservation details

Hosted by

Emerging Subsea Networks

The New NormalProjects Delayed Amidst Tumbling Oil Prices

Kieran Clark

Since last year’s Offshore Energy issue, there has been

a 61 percent decrease in planned systems for 2015-2017. This is largely a reaction to the tumbling price of oil over the last year. A handful of these systems have been supplanted by a pair of combined systems in the Austral-Asia region. The rest have either been pushed back 2-3 years, or died outright.

Welcome to SubTel Forum’s annual Offshore Energy issue. This month, we’ll take a look at the market for submarine fiber in the world of offshore energy platforms. The data used in this article is obtained from the public domain and is tracked by the ever-evolving SubTel Forum database, where products like the Almanac and Cable Map find their roots.

By the Numbers

For last year’s Offshore Energy issue, 1 system was planned to be ready for service here in 2015. There were seven more systems planned for 2016, 11 systems planned for 2017, and three systems planned for 2018. After a year, these numbers have sharply declined. The reduction

in planned systems has resulted in no systems being implemented this year, five systems planned for 2016 and only two systems planned for 2017.

As a result of some systems being delayed compared to this time last year, 2018 has seen an increase to eight planned systems and 2019 can expect five

new systems. With new systems ultimately being tied to the price of oil, all of these numbers are subject to change based on the whim of the markets. If prices continue to fall, expect more systems to be delayed or die out.

With a cautious outlook for the next four years, the length of cable added

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

SYSTEMS PER YEAR 2014-2019

annually follows a more moderate trend compared to last year’s data. A 3,478 kilometer spike is observed in 2016 thanks to a single 2,000 kilometer system in the Austral-Asia region. The subsequent three years show more consistent growth. An addition of 700 kilometers is projected in 2017, 1,678 kilometers in 2018 and

2,055 kilometers in 2019. If the price of oil rises again in the near future, expect these numbers to increase rapidly.

Regional Activity

From a regional perspective, the Gulf of Mexico and Austral-Asia regions will be the busiest over the next several years. The two regions combined

are set to account for 65 percent of all planned systems for 2016-2019. West Africa will see a total of two new systems, with most of the remaining regions of the world seeing only a single new system in their future.

While the offshore energy industry at large is slowing down, the Gulf of Mexico and Austral-Asia

regions continue to see high levels of expansion. It is this growth that drives these regions to the top of the pile with regards to new system activity, and should continue to do so over the next few years.

This time last year, the total estimated cost of systems planned for 2015-2017 was nearly $1 billion. One year later, that number has sharply declined to just over $300 million. Looking ahead to 2018-2019, the total planned investment for this two-year period is an estimated $764 million. That same $1 billion investment from a year ago is still there, but is now spread out over four years instead of two.

As expected from the number of systems planned per region, the Gulf of Mexico and Austral-Asia regions make up significant portions of that $1 billion investment. Combined, they account for almost $450 million.

The West African region, which will see only two new systems over the next four years, will end up accounting for more than one-third of total system investment at a value of $383 million. While the number of proposed systems in the region is low, the fact that West Africa will see the most length of cable added compared to any other region largely accounts

for this high investment amount.

Most of the other regions that only have a single system planned naturally have much lower projections, combining for a total of $216 million. Notably, the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions show no activity planned for the next four years.

AustralAsia; 6

Gulf of Mexico; 7

Mediterranean; 0 Black Sea; 0

Indian Ocean; 1

Persian Gulf; 1

South America; 1

West Africa; 2

North Atlantic; 1

Arctic; 1

Systems Announced Per Region 2016-2019

Dedicated vs Managed Systems

Dedicated systems are those built primarily by one or more oil and gas companies to serve their specific offshore facility’s needs. Managed systems are those built by a Telecom service provider to one or more oil and gas companies’ offshore facilities.

A year ago, 60 percent of systems planned for 2016-2017 were dedicated, with 40 percent being managed. This year, that split has shifted even further in favor of dedicated systems. Just over 70 percent of all planned systems for 2016-2017 will be dedicated. This trend should stay constant through 2019, with 72 percent of planned systems for the next four years being dedicated.

As companies push further out and explore new areas for drilling, they can rely less and less on existing systems managed by telecom providers. With most of the heavy growth in offshore energy happening in previously untapped areas, expect the increase in dedicated systems to continue.

A Cautious Outlook

According to Goldman Sachs, the global oil glut is even larger than it previously thought and could drive prices as low as $20 per barrel. Similarly, the International

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

AustralAsia Gulf of Mexico Mediterranean

Black Sea Indian Ocean Persian Gulf

South America West Africa

North Atlantic Arctic

(in Millions USD)

Investment Per Region 2016-2019

72%

28%

Dedicated vs Managed Systems 2016-2019

Dedicated

Managed

Energy Agency’s monthly report projected that the non-OPEC oil supply for 2016 will fall by the largest amount in more than 20 years as low prices curtail US shale production.

Overall, things look quite a bit more humble than they did a year ago. The

rapid decline in oil prices over the last year has taken its toll and readjusted expectations for new fiber systems. Much of the money and cable that was planned a year ago is still there, but at a slower pace. The future depends heavily on what happens

to the price of oil. With those prices continuing to fall, there may be even more slowdown in the year to come.

Kieran Clark is an Analyst for Submarine Telecoms Forum. He joined the company in 2013 as a Broadcast Technician to provide support for live event video streaming. In 2014, Kieran was promoted

Forum publications. He has 4+ years of live production experience and has worked alongside some of the premier organizations in video web streaming.

to Analyst and is currently responsible for the research and maintenance that supports the SubTel Forum International Submarine Cable Database; his analysis is featured in almost the entire array of SubTel

Coherent Transport

High Signal Power

Outstanding Bend Performance

Simplified Network Design

Long-term Reliability

TeraWave™ | TrueWave® | AllWave® ZWP Ocean Fibers

From shore to shore . . .OFS’ complete portfolio of ocean fiber solutions enables industry-leading performance through high signal power and low-loss.

The High Cost of Cheap Oil

Stephen Nielsen

Drivers across the world are jumping for joy over the

recent gas prices, which have been the lowest they’ve been since before the crash in 2008, but oil companies see the situation a bit differently.

U.S. oil companies are laying off workers, closing platforms and all around tightening belts to help offset the continually low price per barrel (ppb) of crude oil thanks to an oversupply coming out of the middle east.

As the demand for new rigs drops, so does the demand for new submarine fiber systems to connect them to the mainland.

According to a Sept. 17 article by Marketrealist.com, WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil prices closed 3.08 percent lower on a weekly basis at $44.63 per barrel in the week ending September 11. Brent

crude fell by 2.96 percent on a weekly basis. It closed at $48.14 on September 11.

Drillers removed eight oil rigs in the week of Sept. 18, bringing the total rig count down to 644

This is after cutting 23 rigs over the past two weeks, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc said in a report, according to a Sept. 18 article by CNBC.

Those reductions cut into the 47 oil rigs energy firms added in July and August after some drillers followed through on plans to add rigs announced in May and June when U.S. crude futures averaged $60 a barrel.

Those reductions occurred only months after slashes in spending. Thousands of jobs were cut and around 60 percent of the record 1,609 oil rigs that were active in October 2014 were left idle as prices collapsed from around $107 a barrel in June 2014 to under $44 in.

According to an analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, low oil prices have “significantly reduced cash flow for U.S. oil producers.” To cope with the lower cash flows, companies have turned to capital markets financing and have reduced spending. Energy company bond yields are widening in relation to U.S. Treasury bonds. For that reason some companies may have to reduce spending further to pay off their debt.

The 44 companies analyzed in the report contributed to the global increase in oil production over the last few years. Most of their operations are focused in onshore shale plays in the United States.

According to their financial statements, their combined production was about 2.7 million barrels per day over the first half of 2015. This represents about 35 percent of U.S. Lower 48 production.

And the submarine fiber industry is feeling the pressure. According to Submarine Telecoms Forum’s database

of collected, current information on the industry, there has been a 61 percent decrease in planned

systems for offshore energy companies for 2015-2017.

As of last year, there had been seven more systems

planned for 2016, 11 for 2017 and five in 2018. One had been planned for this year.

After the continual tumble of crude oil prices, there were no new systems this year. There are now five planned for 2016 and two planned in 2017.

Other systems have been pushed back as far as 2018, which will theoretically have eight, and five in 2019.

The new dates are not set in stone, however, and new delays may occur depending on how the oil industry proceeds from here.

All hope is not lost, however.

According to an Aug. 30 Bloomberg article, Italian oil company Eni SpA discovered a “super giant” natural gas field offshore Egypt in what the company said is the largest find in the Mediterranean Sea.

Eni will most likely sell most of the fuel into Egypt’s domestic market, according to an unnamed source in the article. They expect a

minimum development period of at least four years. Eni said it planned to appraise the field and start “fast track development.”

Anadarko Petroleum and its partner Ecopetrol discovered 130 feet to 230 feet of net natural gas pay in the Grand Fuerte Area off the coast of Columbia, according to a July 29 worldoil.com article.

Additionally, warming temperatures in the Arctic are leading to new

opportunities in off shore exploration. Countries including Russia are currently examining the possibility of developing the region to provide domestic oil and gas.

Currently, the Gulf of Mexico and Austral-Asia regions will represent the most new business for the submarine fiber industry over the next several years. The two regions represent 65 percent of the planned systems for 2016-2019.

However, the situation could potentially change depending on changes countries make to start supporting oil and gas demand at the domestic level.

With those changes, the opportunities for submarine telecoms companies to find new business with emerging companies may change the landscape as quickly as it did in just the last year.

Stephen Nielsen is staff journalist for Submarine Telecoms Forum. He is a graduate of the Virginia C o m m o n w e a t h University School of Mass Communications and was recognized as a finalist for the Society of Professional Journalism’s Mark of Excellence Award.

Using Acoustic Fibre Optics In Wells

Article courtesy of

Digital Energy Journal

UK company Optasense reports that enormous

progress is being made with using fibre optics in wells for recording seismic data, monitor fracking and flow, among other applications.

Using fibre optics to record seismic data in wells has been done since 2010, but there has been enormous progress made since then, both with the technology and market acceptance, said David Hill, chief technology officer of UK company OptaSense, speaking at the Finding Petroleum London conference on Nov 26, ‘New E&P Technologies.’

Seismic recording with optical fibre using a technique called Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) in wells is not as sensitive as conventional geophones, but the target is to reach that level, he said.

Some people say the oil and gas industry takes 30 years to adopt a new technology, but the technology has already been widely implemented in 5 years, he said.

You don’t need to drill a special observation well,

you just install a fibre-optic cable in an existing producer or injector well. If there is already a fibre-optic cable in the well (perhaps installed to monitor temperature), you can use that.

The DAS technology has been used on one offshore

well so far, operated by Shell in the Gulf of Mexico. Shell was conducting a large seismic survey in the region and wanted to see if it could get any value from a fibre-optic cable which had been installed in one of the wells a few years ago for a different purpose, he said.

‘We were asked to attach our box to it, to see if we could get any usable seismic.’

The recorded data was so good, that ‘one of our employees had to spend seven weeks on that platform, including over Christmas, recording 50,000 shots.’

1400 channels were recorded simultaneously, from two 6km fibres.

In another project, in a mature field in Oman, the customer wanted to monitor where injected steam was going, so they could plan an infill well strategy. To do this fibre

was installed in eight wells, a task which took about a month, and then a 3D DAS-VSP (Vertical Seismic Profile) was acquired simultaneously on each well

The data was correlated and stacked as it was being recorded, enabling

quality control do be done immediately.

After seismic shooting, the data is being stitched together to get a field wide view, he said.

The same system can be used for time lapse seismic, comparing a seismic survey today with the seismic survey at some time in the past.

For this to work, the fibre probably needs to be fixed firmly in the well (cemented or attached to the casing or production string), not dangled on a wireline.

The technology could also be used to monitor CO2 storage wells, he said.

The repeatability of the recorded data helps people gain confidence in it, he said.

The fibre can also be used for microseismic,

recording natural seismic energy, which can also be used to understand the subsurface.

Recording passive seismic data in an oil well is not a new idea. It is conventionally done, by drilling an observation well and inserting geophones in it, or installing the geophone in an existing well. The work is ‘risky and expensive’, he said.

In one example, fibre was installed on a highly deviated well, which meant that by triangulation you could work out where the source was.

Optasense currently has 180 employees and offices around the UK, Houston, Calgary, Dubai and Australia. It recently acquired two California based companies; RIO (Redfern Integrated Optics), which produces the special laser which sends the light through

the fibre, and SR2020, a specialist in high definition borehole seismic imaging and interpretation.

How it works

The technology works by firing a pulse of light (laser) into the fibre.

The glass fibre is ‘the purest material man has ever made,’ but there is enough inhomogeneity in the molecular structure to cause a small amount of light backscatter, he said.

The backscatter appears to be random, but it stays

relatively constant if the fibre is not disturbed.

But if there is a tiny strain on the fibre, which can include a strain caused by a noise, the backscatter pattern changes slightly.

With a calculation

involving the speed of light, you can calculate which part of the fibre that event happened.

The processing work will typically divide a length of fibre into a number of sections and work out the sounds which could be heard at each section of the cable (so it is equivalent to one seismic channel). For example a 5km fibre can be split into 500 x 10m sections.

The fibre can be installed by attaching it to the production string, or cemented behind the casing. It can also be run into the well on a wireline or slickline. It has been used on a well 7km long.

The fibre-optic cables are very robust. ‘Fibre is actually stronger than steel,’ he said. ‘These cables have been developed over 20 years.’

The fibre-optic cable can handle temperatures of up to 300 degrees C.

The fibre response is quite directional, and not so sensitive cross axis - so it cannot determine which direction a sound is coming from. One possible solution is to wind the fibre around the well, he said, or try to develop a perpendicularly sensitive cable.

Fracking and flow

The DAS acoustic data can be used to monitor what is happening in the well, including fracking operations, monitoring flow, water loading and valve operations.

For example you can see a rising water level in the wells. You can also record the flow rate of oil and see the trends.

Sometimes wells gradually fill with water, and then

the oil suddenly pushes past it, sending the water back into the reservoir.

You can monitor what is happening across inflow control valves (ICVs) and at the gas lift values (GLVs) in order to make sure they are working properly.

You can also monitor pressure. ‘In the future we hope this technology will replace gauges downhole,’ he said.

The technology has been used to monitor electrical submersible pumps (ESPs), analysing the noise to see rotational speeds, and spot for any cavitation effects in the motor.

In fracking, you can check the perforation charges are firing properly, and then monitor the flow through the perforations. You can also listen to what is happening with a frac job on a neighbouring well.

Sometimes frackers push proppant into an adjacent well, potentially blocking it, he said.

It has been used to make sure plugs are set properly, because of a particular sound signature which is heard when a plug is set.

Sometimes, the system detects wells having sudden leaks, releasing fluid at high pressure and then closing. This is something a standard sensor would probably not capture, he said.

The system can’t get do multiphase flow measurements ‘but there are strong indications it might be possible,’ he said.

‘The technology has nowhere near fulfilled its full capability yet.’

Data

The company is trying to come up with a standard way to define the data, so the data can be transferred between systems.

The data files can be

enormous, with one well generating ‘a terabyte a day without any problem,’ he says. ‘That’s only going to get orders of magnitude worse as technology progresses.’

To keep data files manageable, it is essential to process the data at source, so you are only transferring the much smaller processed data files, he said.

In 2015, version 4 of the OptaSense DAS system will be made available, with an extra 6dB signal to noise improvement and better spatial resolution, he said.

Other applications

Optasense’s biggest business application for the technology so far is for pipeline monitoring. It is currently installed on 12,000 km of pipeline, to detect potentially damaging activity along

the pipeline and detect leaks.

The technology is also used to monitor and installed around factories to monitor for people climbing over or cutting fences.

It is being used for condition monitoring, to monitor condition of risers.

INTELLIGENCE, ANALYSIS, AND FORECASTINGFOR THE INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE COMMUNITY

Terabit Consulting is a leading source of market intelligence, forecasting, and guidance for the international telecommunications infrastructure community. Its long history of accurate, innovative analysis and advisory services is in large part attributable to the trust and respect it has earned among industry leaders. Terabit Consulting has completed studies for dozens of leading telecom infrastructure projects worldwide and its analysts have traveled to research and deliver studies in more than 70 countries, giving it an unmatched level of experience in nearly every region of the globe.

Terabit’s primary clients include financial institutions, development agencies, government ministries, telecom carriers, project developers, suppliers, financiers, law offices, and industry associations, as well as other members of the international telecommunications infrastructure community.

Learn more at www.terabitconsulting.com or contact a Terabit Consulting representative today.

Terabit Consulting245 First Street, 18th FloorCambridge, Massachusetts 02142 USATel. +1 617 444 8605info@terabitconsulting.com

Submarine Cable Upgrades & Technology

Jas Dhooper & Salon Ma

The Market place

Submarine cable systems, laid deep in the world’s oceans provide a vast network infrastructure that continues to expand and accommodate the increasing global demand for voice, internet and other data transmission services such as cloud storage applications. The demand for capacity continues to fuel the investment of submarine cable networks that remain attractive investments. Service providers can then adequately provide cost-effective end-to-end connectivity for

an increasingly diverse customer base. At present, according to TeleGeography’s, vast database, their map plots the development of 5,561,268 miles (8,949,994 km) of underwater cable.

As some geographical regions lack investment in submarine cable systems, a robust business case can be made for building a new submarine cable system to offer access to high-speed large capacity bandwidth. Empirical research undertaken by the World Bank and other such institutions indicates such

connectivity is fundamental to boosting a nation’s economic growth

The business case

Whilst the roll-out of new-build submarine cable systems continues at a steady pace, the development of these large-scale infrastructure projects takes time and represents a significant investment commitment. Investment is often driven by a number of factors, including; lack of available competition, strategic and or geopolitical considerations, the need for diversity or improving latency and/or a simple lack of existing capacity.

System developers eager to reap the returns of investment in new systems face numerous challenges not only in funding but also in securing the required regulatory approvals. The lengthy project timeframe from germination, through implementation to system commissioning incorporates inherent construction and other risks,

which may inhibit a timely return on investment.

There is however a viable alternative to investment in a new system construction, which on routes of limited available capacity, or where favourable economic factors exist which offer rapid capacity expansion and requires significantly less capital expenditure. The alterative to upgrade an existing system mitigates a number of challenges associated with new system investment. Where the financial markets are not favourable to fund substantial capital investments upgrading existing infrastructure can provide more attractive returns with greatly reduced risk to the complexities inherent in a new-build solution.

When considering new sys-tem construction, a key fac-tor that enables a customer to lock down capacity pre-sales, and capture early market advantage, is to be the first to land and com-mission the system. To help FIG1: Continues to light up

the customer realize early gains, this often means the time line for delivery is a critical factor. With such ag-gressive plans, certain risks and investments do need to be understood.

Investment decisions associated with such early gains do need certainty. Certainty helps the customer to plan ahead to help realize specific business case requirements, such as payback and cash flow, when making such long term decisions.

Project certainty is about presenting and executing

solid implementation plans, management of risk along with detailed planning. Some risks can be uncertain at the outset of a project and would need to be ‘operationally’ managed. As such the term ‘turn-key’ is used from the customer viewpoint at a contractual level. In short, provide an end to end solution and manage the implementation risk to achieve a specific ready for service date!

From a system purchaser’s perspective solid delivery plans and not ones to willingly re-negotiate after

signing the supply contract are of paramount importance.

Upgrade where possible?

The upgrade option naturally does not need to consider all the factors of a typical [new-build] project so can be considered lower risk. There is for example, no need to change or reconfigure wet plant equipment thus the scope of work is confined to the dry plant only, located within the cable landing station (CLS).

Other factors such as after-sales support and maintenance represent essential support functions, for operators. Regional and local support also builds a closer partnership and platform to service on-gong the customer needs as often, the introduction of new technology requires need to manage the transfer of knowledge to an operator’s Network Operator Centre (NOC) personnel.

The transfer and hand-over work requires a solid

methodology with well-defined process to integrate new technology. Key factors associated with such work among others, are:

• Integration of systems, processes and people, with supplier support.

• Development of escala-tion management, break – fix model with suitable Service Level Agree-ments (SLA’s).

• Often, integration be-tween the backhaul and wet plant for NOC as-pects.

• Training and technology roadmap reviews to ser-vice the current and fu-ture needs.

In short, from all angles [technology and operations] need to be fully understood and managed.

Challenges of upgrading

To implement capacity upgrade on existing cable systems, some key parameters need to be understood. These

FIG2: New build repeater technology

primarily focus on the technical transmission characteristics of the existing cable system. Older systems for example can be a challenge to upgrade with additional capacity, as fibre loss, dispersion and nonlinear penalty can give rise to capacity limitations. If these parameters can be overcome with new transmission equipment technology, within the landing station, then a simple optical tap into the existing marine cable can pave the way for new capacity upgrades. Within the station equipment, advancements in modulation techniques and improved Forward Error Correction (FEC) are two examples, which new technology has enabled impairments to be overcome. This is a significant development enabling the system to correct bit errors, due to impairments, such as dispersion thus expanding capacity.

Capability

With an ever-increasing desire to push more light over greater distances to increase system capacity, Huawei Marine has successfully and steadily delivered numerous upgrades using its state-of-the-art submarine line transmission equipment.

It is about being creative and innovative. With the right organisational mindset and customer centric culture, anything can be achieved!

The process of upgrades builds capability and gains track-record. It is only through partnership and long-term commitment, can the formation of sustainable relationships be created.

Upgrade cases

Case example1: Introduction of the Bahamas Domestic Submarine Network international (BDSNi) in the Caribbean region. This system connects more than 20 sites between Bahamas and Haiti and stretches across 3,500 kilometers with the longest section of 343 km.

Huawei Marine has successfully implemented upgrades, utilizing Raman technology. The network provides high speed internet services for the Bahamas and Haiti via a spur connection. Segment 1 linked Duncan Town to Matthew Town, representing some 300km and segment 2 from Matthew Town to Port-Au-Prince, a system length of 350km. Such system lengths are quite typical of these regional inter-island systems that fit well in the upgrade space. The process to implement any upgrade is governed by understanding the system baseline, such as the installed fibre base.

FIG3: BDSNi network in Bahamas

Assessing its characteristics [where possible] helps to develop an engineering test bed model to replicate the actual system conditions.

Field trials often forms a key part of the acceptance process, as they demonstrate real-life actual system parameters.

Through the advancements in SLTE technology most impairment caused by the installed system such as modulation formats, optical amplification, can be compensated. Thus unrepeated system length continues to draw attention and reach new exciting distances. There are many techniques which a supplier can utilize when deciding upon the right upgrade path. Such work demonstrates the significant level of Research and Development (R&D) investment required by suppliers’ to develop upgrade technology. In short, enables the push to continually extend the life of a deployed cable system in terms of capacity. It’s actually quite

exciting to witness Huawei Marine has been at the forefront of developing rapid advancements in such technology from the laboratory into commercial applications; a reflection on their investment, focus and drive to innovate.

Stretching into new and different territories plays

well with Huawei Marine’s product set with proven solutions. Innovation both in wet and dry plant creates a platform when coupled with global support and company stability, offer customers choice.

Case example2: Introduction of the PT Telkom Indonesia cable system 100G upgrade

The advancements in proven 100G technology present an important role in this growth region. The cable system deployed by PT Telkom (show in yellow) in 2013 was upgraded to provide additional capacity. The 3rd route, which provides high speed services for Telkom Indonesia connects Jakarta, Indonesia with Singapore and other East Asian countries. This type of mesh based network architecture includes terrestrial elements; segment 1 from Jakarta to Batu Perahu is just over 350km whilst. Segment 3 on the other hand connects, Pesaren to Batam is 370km of marine cable. The use of soft decision Forward Error Correction achieves ultra-long single hop capability together with seamless operation with OSN to form ring protection.

Utilizing 100G technology the upgrade project was completed as a turnkey solution, through local support and customer collaboration. Success in

FIG4: PT TELKOM network

some regional upgrade work is built through strong regional, understanding and working with local cultures and language is fundamental.

This fits well for Huawei Marine Networks given its proven and established global customer service platform with extensive scale, and in-country presence of parent company makes a big difference. A presence that fully integrates with the customer needs.

During multi stages a further (4*100G) was added on both segments seamlessly as to demonstrate the operational ease of the 1600 SLTE. Combined with a terrestrial network, the two networks can be meshed to offer capability for network restoration in the event of disaster recovery. Such restoration policies and diversity plays an increasing role in today submarine cable systems, particularly as the capacity pipe continues to expand.

Cable cuts will always represent an ongoing system threat and whilst education and zone protection plays a key role with fishery agents, the threat cannot be totally eliminated. As such, it’s prudent for any Operator, who has an invested interest in maintaining connectivity across their marine base, to consider cable awareness and restoration policies - not forgetting recovery plans!

One strategy, when alternative routes co-exist is to consider capacity sharing across different submarine cable systems. This in principle provides optical restoration agreements at an inter-operator level; such a scheme would be activated when cable cuts or other national disasters strikes.

Case example3: Telecom Italy cable multi-vendor upgrade.

To demonstrate multi-vendor upgrades, this particular cable system was originally installed

by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN). The Telecom Italy cable system was designed with a capacity of 68 wavelengths. The landing stations involved being Catania (Italy), Chania (Greece), Athens (Greece), Haifa (Israel), Tel Aviv (Israel), and Istanbul (Turkey).

This system had been previously upgraded some three times and in June of 2014 and once again, between Catania and Istanbul with 10 * 10 GB/s capacity. In fact over the past few years, the total capacity upgrade has

exceeded over 19x10Gb/s, almost 2 Terabits of added capacity representing a significant benefit for the Operator. Such is the flexibility of the Huawei Marine’s SLTE advanced product, that customers can reap the not only benefits on day-1 such as compact size, but also have a future proof upgrade path. Some customers elect to carry out their own capacity upgrades, based upon a ‘plug & play’ architecture.

It was noted earlier in this paper that non-linear impairments often found in older long distance

FIG5: Telecom Italy cable system

cable systems, that tend to use in-line compensation often present a hurdle for coherent technologies. In such cases the modulation format plays a critical role.

Innovative SLTE and OTN designs

Whilst 100G wavelength upgrades tend to be of interest to Operators, one should not lose sight of the backhaul networks which predominately operate in the 10G grid window. Interconnection to the existing terrestrial network is important and often represents hidden cost for the operator. Interconnect interfaces, remain an important element to manage the capacity connection between the ‘wet’ equipment and ‘dry’ elements.

One key feature of the 1600 SLTE with 100G cards is a simple upgrade path from 10G to 100G, through a plug and play feature. In additional, a matrix within the SLTE allows the cross connection from 100G

traffic down to 10G (plus other interface types), thus at the client side the traffic is de-muxed and ready to interconnect to the existing

terrestrial equipment.

These features, with compact footprint and low power consumption, enable Opex savings; as more often than not space is a premium!

Using OTN capability Operator can gain significant cost savings and network simplification.

Some key features of the SLTE product that uses OTN helps protect the purchaser’s investment;

Upgrade of the line side capacity there is no need to replace tributary cards

Client side bandwidth, without need to replace line cards.

Spare parts reduced sig-nificantly and aid Opex enhancements.

Upgrade seamlessly in service

The OTN architecture is shown highlighting key features that enable operators to gain significant advantage; cost & operational control!

Organizational challenges

The ability to deliver large scale network upgrades is a defined process that is underpinned with strong project management discipline. It requires a certain mindset like in any turnkey delivery; the focus on risk management and meeting customer

FIG6: 1600 SLTE compact, 100G/400G technology FIG7: Innovation at the heart of SLTE

expectations remain at the forefront of any project manager.

Of course, quality management also plays a role in any delivery model. The ability to turn-around a situation and recover a plan when some unforeseen event enters the delivery forms a key factor. In today’s every increasing multi-node and diverse upgrade work the time pressure, always remains a pressing requirement.

Critical elements that help cement the service delivery process involves a local team on the ground, collaborating with shipment & custom authorities, interfacing with key agents and strong cooperation

with end customers, form key enablers, that ensure rapid service provisioning.

Once the system has been installed and commissioned the focus mores into customer Operations.

The application of a customer support management system provides a single touch platform for Operations. The iCare platform provides a single point of access for all customers, managed by a back office support centre, fully qualified with

365x24x7 network support.

The friendship and trust formed during the delivery cycle makes a world of difference.

Proven 400G technology

Huawei Marine havs completed product implementation of key 400G technologies including technologies for core algorithms, chips, boards, and systems. Commercial FIG8: Customer network care system

FIG9:Huawei Marine’s track record – a snapshot

release for 400G products took place late 2013. Up to now, 400G technologies have experienced commercial testing and deployment on multiple global networks.

As the push for technology continues through year on year R&D investment, such technology features continue to expand in richness, to better serve customer needs.

The image above describes the 400G development process of Huawei Marine, as case examples representing real field deployment.

The requirements for larger transmission capacities, lower per-bit transmission cost and power consumption are pushing the transport network evolution from 100G to 400G. Compared with 100G, 400G greatly

improves the spectrum efficiency, per-bit cost and power consumption and therefore has obvious commercial application value.

In terms of standards, 400G end-to-end stan-dards are being formu-lated and are estimated to become mature and be released in the com-ing two years.

In terms of solutions, 400G supports various technical solutions to meet the requirements of different application scenarios, such as sin-gle-carrier, dual-carrier, and four-carrier appli-cations.

In terms of technologies and industry chains, 400G and 100G share the same industry chain and technical platform and industry chain. Ma-jor 400G key technol-ogies and components are inherited from 100G and continue to develop and evolve.

Currently, mainstream vendors in the industry have developed 400G key technologies and 400G optical transmission has been put into commercial use. Research and commercial use of advanced 100G technologies including 400G, has enabled Huawei Marine to accumulate rich field experience. For commercial application, the use 400G and Terabit-level transmission tests

  In June 2012, completed the first 400G transmission experiment in the industry on the KPN (Holland) - live network to implement over 800 km transmission using the 2 x 200G 16QAM solution.

  In November 2012, completed the first 2T Super Channel transmission experiment in the industry on the Vodafone (German) live network to support a transmission distance up to 3325 km.

  In July 2013, won the first 400G OTN commercial contract in the industry from Chile Telefonica.

  In November 2013, successfully conducted the first single-carrier 400G transmission experiment in the industry on the live network of Poland EXATEL.

  In March 2014, exhibited sample products for FTN-based long-haul 400G solutions on the OFC exhibition in the United States. The sample products support a transmission distance of more 3000 km in the standard G.652 EDFA system.

  In April 2014, completed the 400G transmission experiment on the TATA cross-Atlantic submarine fibers from the East Coast from the United States to Britain, which is an experiment supporting the currently longest transmission distance (6,577 km).

  In June 2014, performed a single-channel 2.2T transmission experiment with the industry-leading spectrum efficiency (SE = 5.97) from Adstral to Tower on the UK BT live network.

  In August 2014, tested the single-channel 2.4T solution on the South Africa subnet of MTN. In the test, eight subcarriers were used, and the net rate of a single subcarrier reached 300 Gbit/s.

have taken place on live networks.

Terabit transmission and providing customer choice in reaching new limits within the industry is pretty much well established now.

Closing remarks

The path to system upgrade is well proven within the submarine industry and represents options to gain further upside from the ‘existing’ asset base and leverage technology advancement.

It also offers Operators and Purchasers a path to delay or perhaps even avoid the need for massive capital investment into new build, easing pressure on budgets which, in the current economic landscape, could be better spent elsewhere.

Innovation plays a critical part in such systems and when underpinned with significant R&D investment, new boundaries can easily be reached. This together, with delivery capability forms the building blocks

to meet customer needs and provide long term solutions, in a highly competitive market.

The market demand for such innovation remains positive and customers have a clear choice, when the vendor selection process kicks off.

Choice, with proven operational experience, solid customer support is of paramount importance and coupled with innovated technology, year on year R&D investment, the future looks interesting for all involved!

Jas Dhooper has over 20 years’ experience in the Submarine & Service Provider Telecom Sectors. Currently serving as, VP Service Delivery Office for Huawei Marine in China. He has gained significant management experience in setting up global capability to deliver large scale multi-million dollar telecommunications projects, building multi-culture teams within ASIA, Middle East and European regions. He gained early expertise employed by STC Submarine systems in the late 1980’s (consolidated into Alcatel Submarine Systems in the 1990’s) and delivered many complex programs, including transatlantic cable systems, t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s networks and including time on cable ships.

Salon Ma is Marketing Director of Huawei Marine, he also has an active role as sales director responsible for global upgrade projects. Salon ma has more than 15 years optical transmission experience in telecommunication industry and 8 years’ experience in submarine industry. He joined Huawei Marine Networks since in 2008.

In the past 15 years, he has worked in R&D, product management and market intelligent for optical transmission, involved in the development of many terrestrial & submarine products. He has strong experience in planning, designing and development functions with worldwide operational experience, in addition to being a patent holder related to optical transmission systems.

There’s a new power under ocean uniting the world in a whole new way. With unparalleled development expertise and outstanding technology, Huawei Marine is revolutionizing trans-ocean communications with a new generation of repeaters and highly reliable submarine cable systems that offer greater transmission capacity, longer transmission distances and faster response to customer needs. Huawei Marine: connecting the world one ocean at a time.

The Power of Submarine Information Transmission

How Do OffshoreCommunications Work?

Article courtesy of

Rigzone

Thirty years ago com-munications between offshore facilities and

onshore locations was lim-ited to a two-way radio and daily reports. Back then, oil-field workers stationed off-shore were virtually cut off from the rest of the world. Additionally, the amount of staff required on each rig and facility offshore was great because all the infor-mation to make decisions was gathered at these re-mote locations.

Offshore communications have come a long way since then. Now, real-time communications networks not only allow for wi-fi connectivity and personal cell phone use, but also re-al-time transfer of offshore data to onshore offices. Allowing for remote un-manned and totally subsea developments, the way the offshore industry works has been transformed by improved communications systems.

TelecommunicationsTechnologies

There are a number of com-munications technologies that can work together in a system or singly to solve offshore communications challenges. Communica-tions solutions are chosen because of the distance data must travel, the remoteness of the installation, and the amount of data that must be transmitted, as well as the availability of the technol-ogy. Different communica-tions technologies include satellite, microwave, fiber optics, and cellular services.

The most widely cho-sen solution for offshore communications, satellite communications requires a VSAT, or very small ap-erture terminal, at the off-shore site; a broadband sat-ellite connection in space; and a teleport onshore. Available anywhere in the world, satellite services are used many times for vessels that may be on the move, or

extremely remote locations. The only drawbacks to sat-ellite services are a slight delay in data transmittal and finite bandwidth.

Using microwave tele-communications technol-ogy, data is transported via wavelengths that mea-sure less than one meter in length. Microwave com-munications solutions offer more bandwidth for data, but at shorter distances. Many times, microwave telecommunications are chosen for locations that are within close proximity to each other, such as a cluster of facilities on a field.

Although limited because cables must be run from point to point, fiber is an optimal communications solution for clustered facil-ities or offshore locations that are in high-traffic areas, such as the North Sea or US Gulf of Mexico. Also, fiber cables are used to transmit

data between subsea trees, manifolds, jumpers, sleds and controls via umbilicals.

Even cellular services can be accessible at some loca-tions offshore. Specifically, the US Gulf of Mexico has cellular towers installed

offshore that allow cellular communications from rigs and platforms near the coast to onshore locations, al-lowing offshore workers to communicate through their own private cell phones.

Integrated Solutions

Sometimes, a telecommuni-cations solution for an off-shore development might require satellite commu-nications to a main facili-ty and microwave or fiber between wells or facilities

within the development. In other words, a unique combination of telecommu-nications technologies is in-tegrated into each offshore situation, which allows everything from real-time transfer of data from subsea wells to office-like environ-ments at offshore facilities.

Because real-time transmit-tal of data is available now in offshore environments, not as many workers are required for rigs and devel-opments located offshore. Advances in telecommuni-cations technologies have made immediate decisions

to be made from shore. Now, offshore develop-ments are trending toward unmanned and completely subsea installations.

Furthermore, improve-ments in offshore commu-nication technologies have improved work-life balance

environments for those workers who are required to work at these remote lo-cations. Now, offshore staff is able to use wi-fi, talk to family and friends on the phone and watch television during their off time.

Telecoms consulting of submarine cable systemsfor regional and trans-oceanic applications

.com

Back Reflection by Stewart Ash

Satellite Communications

It is 50 years ago that the first commercial communications Satellite ‘Intelsat-I’ went into service. It was built by the Space and Communications Group of Hughes Aircraft Company (later Hughes Space and Communications Company, and now Boeing Satellite Systems). This satellite was given the nickname ‘Early Bird’ which apparently came from the proverb, ‘The early bird catches the worm’. It was built for the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT), the USA signatory to the International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (Intelsat). Early Bird’s design was based on the satellite that Hughes had built for the National Aeronautics

and Space Administration (NASA), to demonstrate that communications via synchronous-orbit satellites was feasible. After a series of manoeuvres, Early Bird reached its geosynchronous orbital position 22,300 miles (35,680km) above the equator in the Atlantic Ocean, at longitude 28°W, on 6 April, 1965. It went into service on 28 June that year.

The world’s first man-made satellite was Russia’s Sputnik-1. The launch of Sputnik-1, on 4 October 1957, and Sputnik-II (which carried the dog Laika), on 3 November, caused a panic in Washington, as the USA realised how far it had fallen behind in the space race. Their worries deepened later that year, when a

Vanguard rocket with the USA’s first satellite on board exploded two seconds after lift-off. It wasn’t until 31 January 1958 that a Jupiter rocket successfully launched Explorer 1, the first American satellite.

The launch of American communications satellites Telstar and Relay in 1962 signalled the start of real competition with submarine cables for the long-distance telephony market. Then, in 1963, the first successful geosynchronous communication satellite, Syncom-II, was launched. Its predecessor, Syncom-I, blew up on launch but Syncom II was a great success. It carried the first two-way satellite telephone call between heads of state, when President John F. Kennedy (1917-63), in Washington, D.C.,

telephoned Nigerian Prime Minister Abubaker Tafawa Balewa (1912-66), in Lagos.

The Syncom satellites had been built for NASA, but the US Government recognised that there was a need for a commercial service, so COMSAT was created by the 1962 Communications Satellite Act and incorporated as a publicly traded company in 1963.

Early Bird was the first satellite to provide direct and ‘nearly’ instantaneous contact between Europe and North America, handling television, telephone, and telex transmissions. It was fairly small, measuring nearly 2.5 × 2.0 feet (76 × 61cm) and weighing 76 pounds (34.5kg). However, Intelsat-I was the first communications satellite to pose a genuine commercial threat to

the viability of subsea coaxial telephone cables, a challenge that would not be overcome for some years.

Intelsat was originally formed as an inter-government enterprise on 20 August 1964, with 11 participating countries. In 1969, Intelsat launched 3 satellites, creating a global TV and speech communications network that spanned the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. By 1973, Intelsat had 80 signatory countries.

Despite the fact that submarine cables offered a better quality of service for telephony, with no perceivable delay or echo and infinitely better security (because the signals were not airborne), satellites could carry television channels, offered more voice channel capacity and a cheaper service. This put pressure on the subsea cable industry and by the mid-1970s satellite systems had become the dominant service for transoceanic telephony, a market leading position it would maintain until the late 1980s. This dominant position would only change with the advent of fibre optic submarine system technology.

Although submarine cables competed with satellites as a transmission medium, the

industry would become reliant on satellites for cableship navigation and charting.

In 1964, the US Navy set up the first transit satellite navigation system, NAVSAT and by the early 1970s major cableship companies had equipped their vessels with transit receivers. Then in 1973, the US Department of Defence started work on the geostationary satellite, Global Positioning System (GPS), and the experimental Block-I GPS satellite was launched. After a Russian SU-15 Interceptor shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 on 1 September 1983, US President Reagan announced that GPS would be made available for civilian use, and almost immediately a large number of cableships were fitted with GPS receivers.However, the US military was concerned about the possibility of enemy forces using the globally available GPS signals to guide their own weapon systems. Originally, the US government believed that the “Coarse Acquisition” (CA) signal would only give about 100m accuracy, but with improved receiver designs, the actual accuracy had improved to 20-30m. In order to avoid providing everyone with such accuracy, the CA signal

transmitted on the L1 frequency (1,575.42MHz) was deliberately degraded by offsetting its clock signal by a random amount, equivalent to about 100 meters of distance. This technique, known as ‘Selective Availability’ (SA) seriously degraded the usefulness of the GPS signal for non-military users. More accurate guidance was possible for users of dual frequency GPS receivers that also received the L2 frequency (1,227.6MHz), but the L2 transmission, intended for military use only, was encrypted and was only available to authorised users that had access to the encryption keys.

This presented a problem for civilian users who, until then, had relied upon ground-based radio navigation systems such as LORAN, VOR and NDB systems costing millions of dollars each year to maintain. Others had adopted transit satellite systems but they were only accurate when the satellite was passing overhead. The advent of a global navigation satellite system could provide greatly improved accuracy and performance at a fraction of the cost. However, the positional accuracy available from the L1 SA signal was too poor to make it realistic for many applications.

The military received multiple requests from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), United States Coast Guard (USCG) and United States Department of Transportation (DOT) to set SA aside to enable civilian use of the full capability, but it remained steadfast in its objection on grounds of security.

Through the early to mid-1980s, a number of agencies developed a solution to the SA ‘problem’ Since the SA signal only changed slowly, the effect of its offset on positioning was relatively fixed – that is, if the offset was ‘100 meters to the east’, then that offset would be true over a relatively wide area. The solution suggested was to broadcast this offset to local GPS receivers and thus eliminate the effects of SA. This would result in positional information closer to GPS’s theoretical performance, around 15m. Additionally, another major source of errors in a GPS fix is due to transmission delays in the ionosphere, which could also be measured and corrected for in the broadcast. This offered an improvement in positional accuracy to around ± 5m, more than enough for most civilian needs. This system was called Differential GPS (DGPS).

The US Coast Guard (USCG) was one of the more aggressive proponents of the DGPS system, experimenting with the system on an ever-wider basis through the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their signals were broadcast on marine long wave frequencies, which could be received on existing radiotelephones and fed into suitably equipped GPS receivers. Very quickly, almost all major GPS vendors offered units with DGPS inputs, not only for the USCG signals, but also aviation units on either VHF or commercial AM radio bands.

By the mid-1990s it was clear that the SA system was no longer useful in its intended role. DGPS would render it ineffective over the US, precisely where it was considered to be most needed by the US military. Additionally, experience during the Gulf War demonstrated that the widespread use of civilian receivers by U.S. forces meant that leaving SA turned on was causing more harm to the U.S. than if it was turned off. After many years of lobbying, it finally took an executive order by President Bill Clinton to get SA turned off permanently, in 2000.

From the beginning of the telegraph era, the length of submarine cables had been measured in nautical miles; however, the nautical mile is actually a unit of distance that is approximately equivalent to one minute of arc along any meridian. This means it is a slightly different length, depending on the latitude. The nautical mile was and remains in use by navigators worldwide because of its convenience when working with charts. Most nautical charts use the ‘North Up’ Mercator projection, where the scale varies by roughly a factor of six from the equator to 80° latitudes, so charts covering large areas cannot use a single linear scale. As the nautical mile is nearly equal to a minute of latitude on these charts, a distance measured with dividers can be roughly converted to nautical miles using the chart’s latitude scale. For cable manufacture in Britain, the length of a ‘cable’ nautical mile had been set at 6,086 feet. By international agreement the nautical mile is now 6,076 feet or 1,852 metres.

With the increased accuracy of ships’ positioning through GPS and DGPS navigation plus the introduction of computer aided

slack control and chart plotting, the subsea cable industry has been forced to abandon the nautical mile as the standard measurement of cable length and replace it with the kilometre.

Satellites no longer compete with submarine cables for high capacity telecommunications between major Points of Presence but submarine cable surveys, installations and repairs rely heavily on the precise positional accuracy provided by GPS and DGPS navigation systems.

Stewart Ash’s career in the Submarine Cables industry spans more than 40 years, he has held senior management positions with STC Submarine Cables (now Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks), Cable & Wireless Marine and Global Marine Systems Limited. While with GMSL he was, for 5 years, Chairman of the UJ Consortium. Since 2005 he has been a consultant, working independently and an in association with leading industry consultants Pioneer Consulting, Red Penguin Associates, Walker Newman and WFN Strategies, providing commercial and technical support to clients in the Telecoms and Oil & Gas sectors.

New Site, New Schedule, New Year Every month, on average 65,000 unique visitors will come to SubTel Forum for their daily industry news. We’ve had some big chang-es over at SubTel Forum over the last few months - we hired a dedicated news analyst, streamlined with a new website and released completely new publica-tions. To go along with our new features, we’re bringing back a few old ones as well. Begin-ning in Octo-ber, the weekly news wrap-up

will also be emailed to our subscriber list - we are also making sponsored mailings available again, the Sub-Tel Forum subscriber list is now available to you for di-rect messaging. As always, our end of year products are also available - up first, the Industry Re-port will be published at the end of September. Next up, the Industry Calendar will be released, and then in January 2016, the Cables

of the World wall map will be mailed out. Details on all of these products, including due dates and pricing, can be found in the attached Media Card. When looking over our new release schedule, please note that all dates are reflec-tive of the marketing con-tent due, the releases all fol-low shortly. Please take a look at our new pricing as well - we have over 65,000 unique visitors to SubTel Forum ev-ery month, let us be part of your 2016 marketing plan.

Kristian Nielsen literally grew up in the business since his first ‘romp’ on a BTM cableship in Southampton at age 5. He has been with Submarine Telecoms Forum for a little over 6 years; he is the originator of many products, such as the Submarine Cable Map, STF Today Live Video Stream, and the STF Cable Database. In 2013, Kristian was appointed Vice President and is now responsible for the vision, sales, and over-all direction and sales of SubTel Forum.

+1 703.444.0845

knielsen@subtelforum.com

ConferencesOCEANS ‘1519-22 October 2015Washington, DC, USAWebsite

PTC 201617-20 January 2016Honolulu, Hawaii USAWebsite

ICPC Plenary Meeting12-14 April 2016Hamburg, GermanyWebsite

SubOptic 201618-21 April 2016Dubai, UAEWebsite

January:

Global Outlook

March:

Finance & Legal

May:

Subsea Capacity

July:

Regional Systems

September:

Offshore Energy

November:

System Upgrades

Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc.21495 Ridgetop Circle, Suite 201Sterling, Virginia 20166, USAISSN No. 1948-3031

PUBLISHER:Wayne NielsenVICE PRESIDENT:Kristian NielsenMANAGING EDITOR:Kevin G. Summers

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS:Stewart Ash, Kieran Clark, Digital Energy Journal, Jas Dhooper, Salon Ma, Stephen Nielsen, Rigzone

Contributions are welcomed. Please forward to the Managing Editor at editor@subtelforum.com.

Submarine Telecoms Forum magazine is published bimonthly by Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc., and is an independent commercial publication, serving as a freely accessible forum for professionals in industries connected with submarine optical fiber technologies and techniques. Submarine Telecoms Forum may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the permission of the publishers.

Liability: while every care is taken in preparation of this publication, the publishers cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the information herein, or any errors which may occur in advertising or editorial content, or any consequence arising from any errors or omissions, and the editor reserves the right to edit any advertising or editorial material submitted for publication.

Copyright © 2015 Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc.

I made a shirt.

The idea occured to me while I was talking to some au-thor friends on Facebook one night. These are indie authors, which is to say, au-thors that self-published their work instead of following the traditional publishing model. Most of them are making at least bit of money in royal-ties, and all are proud of their independence. They’re out-laws... Literary Outlaws.

The idea popped into my head just like that. I brain-stormed a few designs and came up with something that looked cool. I signed up for a T-shirt site called TeeSpring, and withing an hour or so I had a shirt for sale. The backend hocus pocus on the

TeeSpring site allowed me to target the shirt specifically to indie authors and indie read-ers, and, just like that, I was selling shirts.

There was a time, not so long ago, that the steps I just de-scribed would have been nearly impossible to imag-ine. But thanks to target marketing and the fact that we share ev-erything a b o u t o u r -s e l v e s , thanks to the busi-nesses that live and die by the web, we

have a whole new world of opportunity.

The shirt made some folks happy, and it made me a bit of money. And none of this would be possible without the fiber optic networks that make up the internet. So,

thanks and good work. Live long and prosper.

Kevin G. Summers is the Editor of Submarine Telecoms Forum and has been supporting the submarine fibre optic cable industry in various roles since 2007. Outside of the office, he is an author of fiction whose works include ISOLATION WARD 4, LEGENDARIUM and THE MAN WHO SHOT JOHN WILKES BOOTH.

+1.703.468.0554

editor@subtelforum.com

Voiceof the

Industry