Lake General Carrera (or Lake Buenos Aires), known as the "Wonderland on Earth", is shared by Chile and Argentina. It is one of the most important local tourist spots with world-famous glacial lakes and marble caves and other tourist resources. The lake is surrounded by the Andes Mountains. The communication among surrounding cities is mainly by land optical fiber cables and microwave stations. However, with the development of economy and tourism, mobile phone signal is often delayed or even lost in densely populated areas, and this brings inconvenience to residents and greatly affects the travel experience of tourists.
Schematic diagram of the underwater communication network of Lake General Carrera
In May, 2020, FiberHome (FH) started to build the underwater communication network project in General Carrera Lake. It was found that the deepest part of the lake reached 600m after the local hydrological environment and marine survey data investigation, and the underwater environment was so complicated that general underwater optical cables were unable to adapt to. Because of the harsh requirements on the mechanical strength and application depth of optical cables in this area, FH designed and developed a submarine optical cable underwater communication system solution based on the submarine optical cable technology. FH submarine optical fiber cable structure has a greater application depth and higher mechanical strength to well match the application scenarios of the project.
In 2020, the global epidemic broke out and became more and more serious. Material procurement, submarine cable production and customer factory inspections were all facing major challenges. FH overcame all difficulties and integrated the resources of the raw material supply chain, and timely purchased all the materials needed for this project through multiple supply channels at home and abroad and succeeded in making full preparations for the successful delivery of submarine cable products.
The route of this project was hundreds of kilometers long, and all of which used 96-core large-scale submarine cables. The cable with special structure and long single-section line distance was rarely used in practical application cases in China and even the world, and required ultrahigh production technology. FH adopted self-developed advanced PCVD, VAD+OVD optical fiber perform production technology, and at the same time strictly controlled the subsequent production processes, so as to accurately control the fiber attenuation coefficient after cabling, and ensure the transmission performance after the system is opened. After the arrival of the goods, the test on site carried out by customers showed that the attenuation at the 1550nm was lower than 0.180dB/km which was far better than the required 0.22dB/km by customers. The project involves several sections of long-distance 96-core submarine cables. Relying on the company’s profound technical accumulation, FH has successfully produced all the optical units required for this project using the industry’s advanced seamless welding technology, and the length of a single-segment of optical unit is more than 50km, which is rare seen in the industry. In addition, FH customized the underwater joint box for customers after taken the construction environment into consideration, and conducted video and online teaching on the joint technology of large core submarine cables to successfully completed the training for customer engineers.
In June 2020, the Chilean epidemic was severe. FH invited authoritative third-party organizations in the submarine cable industry to successfully complete the online factory inspections with customers. Product performance indicators were unanimously recognized by customers and third-party organizations. In August 2020, the first batch of submarine cables required for the project arrived at the San Antonio Port in Chile as scheduled and passed the on-site test, thus ensuring the smooth progress of the project. Recently, all the products required for this project have been delivered to Chile, and the project is currently underway in an orderly manner.
Construction site of the underwater communication network in General Carrera Lake
The successful delivery of the General Carrera Lake submarine cable project in Chile has filled the gap in the long-distance and large-scale application of 96-core submarine cables in the industry. At the same time, it not only proves that Chinese companies could provide high-quality products and services under complex environmental conditions, and guarantee the quality of submarine communication networks, but also provides another successful experience for China marine communications industry to go abroad.
FiberHome |
.jpg)
