- Sparkle is joining an effort to use fiber cables for more than just broadband
- The initiative - called ECSTATIC - aims to use existing submarine cables to sense seismic events
- There's a similar initiative happening in the U.S. via the Fiber Optic Sensing Association
Italian operator Sparkle has joined the European Union-funded ECSTATIC project, aiming to repurpose submarine fiber-optic cables into a global distributed sensing system for seismic monitoring and infrastructure protection.
The Enhanced Communication Through Submarine Cables for Time-sensitive and Intelligent Control (ECSTATIC) initiative seeks to develop solutions that integrate high-speed optical communication with sensing capabilities. By leveraging existing submarine cable networks, the project aspires to enable real-time detection of seismic events, tsunamis and other geophysical phenomena.
With billions of miles of optical fiber cables installed worldwide - much of which traverses undersea regions beyond the reach of conventional sensors - the potential for large-scale sensing without additional deployment is significant. However, realizing this potential necessitates redefining communication techniques, signal characteristics and network architectures.
This isn't the first time we've heard of fiber cables being used for more than just connectivity. The U.S.-based Fiber Optic Sensing Association is something similar with terrestrial fiber. Check out our coverage of that here and our podcast episode on the same here.
But back to Sparkle.
Sparkle's involvement in ECSTATIC includes trial activities along the Tyrrhenian segment of its BlueMed submarine cable system, stretching from Genoa to Palermo, as well as utilizing its Network Operation Center in Catania for data storage and analysis. These trials aim to validate the use of new technologies for seismic early warning, predictive maintenance, and network integrity.
This participation aligns with Sparkle's broader efforts to explore the auxiliary use of submarine fiber-optic cables for scientific and civil protection purposes. Over the past two years, Sparkle has conducted experiments on its "Mednautilus" cable system in collaboration with the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), gaining valuable experience and a substantial historical data base.
Read Sparkle's full press release here.
Ed. Note: This article was written with the help of GenAI.