Scientific Reuse of Submarine Telecommunications Cables: Implementation on a Portion of Pacific Cable TPC-1

海底通信电缆的科学再利用：太平洋电缆 TPC-1 部分的实施

• 批准号: 9102228
• 负责人: Rhett Butler
• 金额: $ 59.02万
• 依托单位: Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1991
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1991-06-01 至 1995-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9102228&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Scientific; Reuse; Submarine; Telecommunications; Cables

An international, collaborative project will be undertaken to investigate the potential multidisciplinary scientific use of undersea telecommunications cables that are being abandoned or retired by international telephone companies. Digital fiber optic technology has matured to the point where new fiber optic submarine telecommunications cables are replacing older analog coaxial types. The older cables still have decades of useful life and they represent an opportunity for scientific re-use as a tool for real-time, long-term oceanographic and geophysical observations on the deep seafloor. The study of global scale geophysical processes will increasingly require improved world-wide long-term monitoring of the oceans and underlying Earth. Having access to data in real-time will enhance many of these studies. Achieving these goals of broad spatial coverage, over long time periods using conventional instrumentation deployed from ships will be costly. Effective, real-time data telemetry via satellites and other means also has limitations. One possible alternative would be to use portions of ocean-spanning telecommunications cables scheduled to be retired in the next decade. They could be instrumented with sensors capable of monitoring certain geophysical properties. The cable could provide a source of reliable power, a means to acquire high bandwidth data in real time and provide a way to control remote instrumentation. The project deals specifically with TCP-1, an AT&T/KDD-owned Hawaii-Guam-Japan cable -- a portion of which has been turned over to IRIS and the University of Tokyo for use by the international academic research community. Plans are underway in Japan to initially instrument the Guam-Japan portion with seismometers and magnetometers. Work to be accomplished at the U.S.-owned Guam termination site is necessary before significant engineering efforts and installation of these instruments can be started. A small building for housing the electronics that power and control the seafloor repeaters will be constructed and the cable will be re-terminated within this building. A series of small pilot studies will also explore: 1) the feasibility of using academic research vessels rather than commercial cable ships to handle deep sea cables, 2) conceptual designs for a seafloor acoustic modem through which autonomous scientific instruments can be connected to a submarine cable, and 3) new, low-cost methods to couple data into a seafloor cable in situ. U.S. private industry is collaborating in that AT&T is transferring ownership of the TCP-1 cable to a consortium of academic research institutions, is making space and electrical power available at its Guam site, and is keeping the cable powered up during a one-year transition period.

将开展一个国际合作项目， 调查潜在的多学科科学用途 正在被废弃的海底电信电缆或 国际电话公司退休。 数字光纤 光学技术已经成熟到新的光纤 海底电信电缆正在取代老式的模拟电缆 同轴类型。 老电缆仍然有几十年的有用 它们代表了科学再利用的机会， 实时、长期的海洋学和地球物理学工具 对深海海底的观测。 对全球尺度地球物理过程的研究将越来越多地 需要改进全球范围内对海洋的长期监测 和地下的地球 实时访问数据将 加强了许多研究。 实现这些广泛的目标 空间覆盖，在很长一段时间内，使用传统的 从船上部署的仪器将是昂贵的。 有效， 通过卫星和其他手段进行实时数据遥测， 局限性。 一种可能的替代方法是使用部分 跨洋电信电缆计划 十年后退休。 它们可以被装备上 能够监测某些地球物理特性的传感器。 电缆可以提供可靠的电力来源， 以真实的时间获取高带宽数据，并提供一种方法， 控制远程仪表。 该项目专门处理TCP-1，AT T/KDD拥有的 夏威夷-关岛-日本电缆-其中一部分已经转向 转到IRIS和东京大学， 国际学术研究界。 计划正在进行中 日本最初将关岛-日本部分与 地震仪和磁力计。 有待完成的工作 美国--在重大事件发生之前， 这些仪器的工程工作和安装可以 开始了 一个小建筑，用于容纳电子设备， 将建造海底中继器的电力和控制， 电缆将在这座建筑物内重新终止。 一系列 小型试验性研究也将探讨：1） 使用学术研究船而不是商业电缆 处理深海电缆的船舶，2）概念设计， 海底声学调制解调器， 仪器可以连接到海底电缆，和3）新的， 低成本的方法将数据耦合到海底电缆中。 美国私营企业正在合作，AT T正在 将TCP-1电缆的所有权转让给 学术研究机构，是使空间和电气 电力供应在其关岛的网站，并保持电缆 在一年的过渡期内启动。