Finland Deploys New System to Detect Threats to Undersea Cables
Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:
This tech allows undersea cables to act as sonar sensors:
"The protection of undersea infrastructure is a nationally important task. The recent cable breaks in mind, we have built a solution that provides an early warning of an approaching threat. We are very pleased with the tests that have now been carried out and the good cooperation with the Finnish Border Guard and the Finnish Navy," Elisa New Business Director Jouni Petrow said. Our quick response to the incident at the turn of the year prevented damage to other cables. Our goal is to use the early warning system to alert the authorities even before the first damage occurs."
There have been multiple instances of incidents like this in recent years, mostly happening near geopolitical hotspots like the Baltic Sea near Russia, the Red Sea in the Middle East, and Taiwan in East Asia. More concerningly, Russian ships and submarines have been spotted multiple times near transatlantic data cables and are suspected of mapping the sea floor near them for future operations.
Because of this, countries are now investing in technologies to help defend these cables. The Australia, UK, and U.S. trilateral security agreement (AUKUS) is putting in an effort to develop an undersea drone designed to respond to threats to undersea cables. The Pentagon has even announced a call for proposals for small and cheap autonomous subs that can be developed and built rather quickly, while a startup just unveiled an AI-powered drone that operates at depths of up to 1,640 feet.
In fact, the DAS system that Finland is in the process of deploying on its undersea cables is similar to the one developed last year by German tech company AP Sensing. This tech is cost-efficient and easy to install because it can be retrofitted on existing cables, with the only major investment being the installation of a signal-listening device every 62 miles or every 100km.
It's unclear if Finland's undersea detection system used AP Sensing's technologies or patents. It seems that it was a national effort, though, with Elisa acknowledging the involvement of Fingrid, the Finnish electrical transmission system operator, Gasgrid Finland, which owns gas pipelines, the Geological Survey of Finland, the Naval Academy, and the University of Helsinki's Institute of Seismology.
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