Emerging Subsea Networks: SMART Cable Systems for Science and Society

The subsea telecommunications cable industry is approaching a prospective new era: deploying SMART subsea cable systems (SMART = Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunication). The current global, commercial cable infrastructure consists of 1 Gm of cable, being refreshed now and expanding in the future. The SMART concept is to add a small external sensor package along the cable system at its optical repeaters to transmit important real-time environmental data via a dedicated wavelength or overhead channel in the transmission system, avoiding any impact on the commercial traffic. These small, reliable, existing sensors would precisely measure temperature, pressure and three-axis acceleration across the world’s ocean floor over an extended period of time, being deployed using standard cable-laying procedures on new or refurbished cables, but not requiring maintenance through the 2-3 decade life of the cable systems. The game-changing factor is the urgent international need for ocean environmental data related to mitigating climate and sea-level change and improving tsunami and slope failure hazard warnings. Societal costs incurred by these are reaching billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of deaths. Pressures for new and urgent public policies are evident from the 5^th IPCC Assessment, USA-China agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, clear evidence for rapid global warming, 21^st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (December 2015, Paris), and the scale of the costs of inaction. To support revised public policies and actions, decision-makers, industry leaders, and the public are seeking key scientific data, which will necessitate new sources of funding. Hence, the emergence of new SMART cable systems offered by the subsea telecommunications industry will provide new market opportunities, engage additional non-traditional users, and make profound societal contributions. The Joint Task Force (JTF) on SMART Subsea Cable Systems established by three UN agencies (ITU, WMO, and UNESCO IOC) is helping facilitate this transformation. http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/climatechange/task-force-sc/Pages/default.aspx or google 'jtf cable'