Multicore Fiber in Submarine Cables Dramatically Increases Data Transmission Rates

Researchers Successfully Bundle Four-core Fiber in a Submarine Cable, Quadrupling Data Transmission Rates While Minimizing Interference and Data Attenuation

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The Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC)

Feb 01, 2022, 12:52 ET

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- While COVID-19 and its associated economic dislocations have complicated 5G technology's 2022 rollout, changes wrought by the pandemic may boost the case for the generation mobile network in the long run. The world is increasingly more connected, and data consumption continues to multiply, driving a constant need for better communication infrastructure. These rapid changes are transforming the landscape for telecom services, equipment and information.

The test tank holding the prototype submarine cable, also shows the multicore fiber inside.
Credit: Takeshita et al. — The test tank holding the prototype submarine cable, also shows the multicore fiber inside. Credit: Takeshita et al.

In this age of wireless networking and smart devices connected across the global internet, undersea cables are a vital artery for data transmission. More than 400 submarine cables are used to connect the world across oceans, and these cables need constant upgrades to ensure they can support the increasing bandwidth demanded of them.

Hitoshi Takeshita is part of a team of researchers developing the first uncoupled 4-core multicore fiber in a submarine cable. He will present his prototype at the 2022 Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) on Monday, 07 March being held at the San Diego Convention Center.

"We have demonstrated that the optical transmission performance through cabled uncoupled 4-core multicore fiber fully meets the requirements of modern long-haul submarine cables," said Hitoshi Takeshita, System Platform Research Laboratories, NEC Corporation.

The researchers built a prototype cable using SC520-type submarine cable, which is capable of withstanding water pressures at a depth of 8,000 meters, and can hold 16 fiber pairs. The team used four pairs of multicore fiber and 12 single-core pairs in their prototype.

Most significantly, the team built their 4-core fiber design to the same dimensions as a single-core fiber, managing to dramatically increase the capacity of the cable without increasing its size or reducing the number of fiber pairs.

"Multicore fiber is now expected to further increase the number of parallel optical fiber cores without increasing the submarine cable size and structure, enabling the second generation of submarine SDM (space division multiplexing) systems," said Takeshita.

With the cores so close together, and with the cable undergoing additional stresses due to the submarine environment, extensive effort is required to ensure minimal interference between cores. In their trial, tests showed intercore crosstalk was negligible.

Equally important is reducing signal attenuation along the length of the cable. For a submarine cable that would one day be expected to span hundreds or possibly thousands of miles, ensuring the signal remains strong across the cable's length is critical. In particular, the team needed to guarantee the multicore fiber would not experience additional attenuation when cabled.

"It was never shown how multicore fiber would behave when cabled inside a submarine cable, with different bending and tension as it is usually evaluated in laboratory experiment," said Takeshita. "As submarine transmission is an ultralong haul, even slight variations of properties of cabled fiber have significant impact on the system performance as it accumulates with distance."

To accomplish a reduction in intercore crosstalk and improved signal attenuation, the team integrated a multicore fiber amplifier into the cable, splicing the amplifier with the fiber directly. This reduced bulk in the cable and improved performance.

The researchers hope their multicore fiber bundled in a submarine cable will be used to increase data transmission rates as demand increases over the next few years.

"International data usage is expected to expand, driven by factors such as the growth of 5G mobile data and the need to share ever more content between data centers distributed around the world," Takeshita concluded. "To meet this demand, submarine networks are expected to adopt space division multiplexing technology using multicore fiber."

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About OFC
The 2022 Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) is the premier conference and exhibition for optical communications and networking professionals. For more than 45 years, OFC has drawn attendees from all corners of the globe to meet and greet, teach and learn, make connections and move business forward.

OFC includes dynamic business programming, an exhibition of global companies and high impact peer-reviewed research that, combined, showcase the trends that are shaping the entire optical networking and communications industry. OFC is co-sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society (IEEE/ComSoc) and the IEEE Photonics Society and co-sponsored and managed by Optica (formerly OSA). OFC in 2022 will be presented in a hybrid format with in-person and virtual components and will take place 06-10 March 2022 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, USA. Follow on Twitter @OFCConference, learn more at OFC Community LinkedIn, and watch highlights on OFC YouTube.

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