MERGED - Connection problems in Bromley

[th'engineer]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

Could be a container that fell overboard and touched down on top of it, 20,000 fall overboard each year!

Must take some interesting skill sets to repair it. Do you pull it off the ground to examine it, or send a submersible to look at it. Do you send divers down to repair it? You can hardly spot weld it, or pull it up?

It kinda makes sense that the break happened along a coastline, the water is shallower and more likely to shift at the bottom, the cable across the mid atlantic is probably exactly where it was first laid.

Fibre cannot be easily joined if the cable has been snagged by something it would probably need replacement due to ingress of seawater.

Usually cables are buried there are tools avaiable during laying that dig cables into the sea bed.

Out sheaths are usually armoured so would withstand damage

link

[greencreeper]

Originally Posted by handyman

One would imagine that the fibre could be located by gps very easily, they lift the fibre and split it and they run tests back to the base station to identifiy if they have a the right bit. I also think they can light the fibre in such away that gives them a rough idea where the fault is.

This is all highly interesting stuff, I'm learning heaps about the internet. :geek:

I guess that any imperfections in the cable medium that allows the light to bounce would lead to tiny variations in the angle at which the light bounces. This would make the cable less fault tolerant so something like a shift in the cable would cause a failure. I bet it's like fixing fairy lights. I wonder if they use any search algorithms to speed up the search or do they just start at one end and work their way along? Any deep sea fibre optic repair persons out there who can "enlighten" us?

I'm not sure how accurate GPS is. I remember reading about it being out by a few meters, which is fine when you have line of sight but not when the thing you want is 100's of feet under water!

Agree - interesting stuff <adjusts glasses>

[blackthorn]

Originally Posted by greencreeper

The dangers of skim reading Any witty ideas as to what caused the break then? Earthquakes are out because our plate is fairly stable. No sharks to speak of - well, very few. Maybe a barrel of radioactive waste dropped on the cable? The Irish trying to tunnel out?

If the M.O.D were a truthful bunch of people (which they are not) put your money on a submarine causing it. It`s been done before, several times.

[Indians]

Try these Here or Here or here

[Indians]

Cable Repair vessel Here (they 'recover' - drag up - the cable)