Society’s reliance on telecommunication infrastructure continues to grow as both energy and telecommunications solutions share mutual dependencies. This dependency calls for increased monitoring of fibre networks and fibre optic subsea cables, which serve as the backbone of connectivity for all digital communications.

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) and State of Polari- sation (SoP) monitoring provide real-time measurements of vibrations and potential mechanical interference which could impact the cable. Implementation of these sensing technologies mitigate risk to the infrastructure, preventing equipment failure and downtime. In particular, any unexpected movements caused by subsea activities such as passing trawlers, hooking of equipment on the seabed, and any geophysical phenomena can be traced so that appropriate action could be taken.

This article will explain the capability and benefits of the monitoring system and how Tampnet utilises this system for monitoring its vast subsea and terrestrial cable systems.