How listening to light waves could prevent subsea cables sabotage
The vital element of global communication crosses more than 807,800 miles of garden cables on the scale of the woven pipe through the seabed. These cables, which would emit more than 10 billions of dollars of financial data every day, are vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, decomposition and, if we believe recent reports, sabotage acts.
The Associated Press believes that at least 11 cables have been damaged since October 2023 in the Baltic Sea alone. The Finnish and German authorities have retraced several of these trained anchors, which perhaps intentionally deployed to cause damage to political ends. The fears to degenerate the sabotage from the submarine cable even prompted NATO to accelerate its presence of military surveillance in the region through a mission all hands on the deck nicknamed “Baltic Sentry”.
But keeping an eye on the underwater cables of the earth is easier to say than to do. Physical monitors simply cannot be everywhere both and current passive detection tools are relatively easy to spot. Optics11, a maritime defense company based in the Netherlands, is trying to solve this growing problem with Optibarrier, an underwater monitoring system that he claims can “listen” using light.
The company claims that Optibarrier is equivalent to a “network of sensors” on the seabed, capable of detecting tiny variations in the way in which light moves through cables. The IT models advanced on the shore analyze and then analyze these irregularities to identify and locate the vessels sneaking where they should not be. If they are detected early, these sensors could serve as a first line of defense against underwater sabotage.
“We can deploy several of the sensors that we have in different areas of the sea and all record acoustic signatures of all ships and all threats that could threaten critical assets in the sea,” said Aydin Zaden, director of Optics 11 Applications Engineering, in a video explaining technology.
News of Optibarrier was reported for the first time by the next web earlier this week.
Spy ships can leave behind low traces of his
The system is based on triangular “metal-optical-optical-optical fiber” pods “placed on the seabed. These devices are equipped with passive acoustic sensors which continuously listen to submarine sound signals. The sound waves of ships that pass subtly modify the way in which light moves through the fiber optical sensors. The devices measure these modifications and transmit the signals to a control center. Once received, operators can compare signal differences with a sound database known to identify the type of ship, as well as its location and its trajectory.
The CEO of Optics11, Paul Heiden, told TNW that in certain cases, the system can use the low variation in signal measurements to determine the brand and the exact model of a ship. Heiden claims that Optibarrier can detect ships up to 150 kilometers (93 miles) – through the distance between Boston and Rhode Island. The coverage depends on the establishment of one of the pods at one kilometer (or about all half-miles) each other in a marguerite chain-shaped arrangement.
The precision of model detection is divided into three circular zones. Optics 11 claims that it can maintain the “real -time threats monitoring” in an area up to six kilometers (4 miles) in diameter of the pods. A second large area, up to 30 kilometers (19 miles), is less precise but can always identify the presence of large ships. Optics11 indicates that its Optiarray device, a similar model which is attached to the top of the submarines and ships, is integrated into the “Orka-Class” submarines of the Royal Netherlands Netherlands. We do not know if governments are currently interested in the SEAFLOOR monitor model, or how much it costs.
Optics 11 did not immediately respond to Popular sciences Comment request.
Currently, underwater fiber monitors are based on a process called distributed acoustic detection (DAS) to detect disturbances. This technique generally sends a series of electromagnetic impulses and analyzes how the return wave waves are changing, which can correlate the potential signs of a passing ship or an underwater drone. Although effective in identifying anomalies, the emission of pulses can also reveal the location of the monitor. The optibarrier approach allows furtive monitoring by passively observing the signals without transmitting any of its own pulses. Reducing the Pulse of the Equation also means that Optibarrier is less sensitive to jamming technologies, the company indicates. The pods themselves are designed to be lasting enough to resist the corrosion of the ocean and short circuits, with a lifespan up to a decade when it is properly maintained.
[Related: The mystery surrounding two severed Baltic subsea internet cables is getting murkier]
The disputed oceans are filled with drones and surveillance equipment
The recent increase in underwater cable disorders has aroused renewed interest in more creative early detection methods. Last month, Denmark deployed a pair of floating “sail” made in the United States equipped with cameras, sensors and microphones to collect ocean data. These are intended to supplement maritime surveillance already carried out by air satellites. This decision follows a separate initiative of the German Navy, which began to test an unmanned “Bluewhale” underwater drone of 5.5. The German navy claims that the drone can detect both submarines and surface ships without emitting signals that could compromise its location.
Together, these drone systems and the more advanced underwater sensor networks like Optibarrier suggest an almost future future where even distance from Open Ocean are monitored as closely as the front lines of a battlefield.
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