Advances in fibers and transmission line technology for long haul submarine systems

The 7.1-magnitude earthquake on December 26, 2006 in the Strait of Luzon resulted in the failure of several submarine cable systems. Seven of the nine cables that pass through the strait were damaged, disrupting communications to China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Singapore. This recent event highlighted the dependence of international communications on submarine fiber optic transmission systems. This paper will review the evolution of optical fiber transmission line technology that has been deployed in the long haul undersea telecommunications network. It will start with a discussion of the chronological evolution of the optical fiber transmission line architecture in section one, then give more detail regarding the technology that is still being deployed today.