WCA July 2019

Measurement Results of Submarine Cable After Actual Installation By Mizuki Ohara, Daishi Masuda, Masumi Kobiki, Submarine System Plant, OCC Corporation, Kitakyushu, Japan

Abstract The authors obtained attenuation results for submarine cable applying optical fibre with effective area of 150μm 2 , after actual field installation. Attenuation was 0.152dBkm, which is the same value as the “coiled cable” at the factory. 1 Introduction The development towards higher bit rate optical communi- cation systems has been rapidly evolving in recent years and the advances in transmission technologies have increased the level of requirements for each element of the system. For high-capacity long-haul submarine transmission systems the deployment of “ultra low loss” and “ultra large effective area” fibres has become a “must” to improve OSNR and system performance. The cabling evaluation and qualification for ultra low loss and ultra large effective area fibres were completed with excellent results.

For the deployment of recent high-performance optical fibres over transoceanic distances, a few thousand kilometres were manufactured and delivered over the 2014-2017 period. One concern about utilising such ultra large effective area optical fibres was macro/micro bending losses introduced during the cabling process. OCC managed to finish mass production of cables and system integration works successfully, supported with results measured on coiled cable that was not in actual installed conditions. In this paper, the authors present the optical attenuation measurement results of submarine cable during/after actual laying operations. Prior to installation, submarine cable system performance is generally inspected with C-OTDR and spectrum measurement for the entire system length. This time the most important parameter of submarine cable, which is optical attenuation, was measured during actual deployment conditions, making this study a unique one.

❍ ❍ Figure 1 : LW (Light Weight) cable

❍ ❍ Figure 2 : LWS and armoured cable

Steel tape

Sheath PE

LWS (Light Weight Screened)

Fibre Water Blocking Compound 3-divided Steel Segment Steel Wire Water Blocking Compound Copper Tube Insulating Sheath PE

Inner Armour Wire

Outer Serving Outer Armour Wire Inner Serving

Armour Wire

Outer Serving

SA (Single Armoured)

DAS (Double Armoured Smart)

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Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2019