The subsea cable industry has seen rapid evolution over the past three decades, including the introduction of optical amplification into submerged repeaters and an increase in fiber count. While these advancements have satisfied present connectivity needs, many wonder if foreseeable evolutions in cable technology can handle the significant forecasted traffic demand growth rate. In the “Special Report: A Look at the Evolution of Fiber Optic Cable System Capacity and Technology to Better Understand Next Technical Challenges,” Pioneer Consulting’s Partner, Bertrand Clesca, discusses this conundrum at length in an article for the May 2023 issue of SubCableNews.
“The application of coherent transmission technology to optical carriers in the past decade has allowed to significantly reduce the gap to the Shannon limit (setting a fundamental upper limit on the capacity achievable for a given signal-to-noise ratio).”
Also in the article, he provides an in-depth overview of cross-sectional fiber optic cable capacity.