Huawei Completes Repeater and Branching Unit Trials

Huawei Marine, a global submarine network provider, announced the successful completion of sea trials for its second-generation Repeater, RPT 1660 R2, and Branching Unit, BU 1650 R2.

Both innovative second-generation products were recently tested in the extreme winter conditions of the Atlantic Ocean on-board the Cable Innovator, the flagship of parent company Global Marine Systems Ltd. The trials took place off the Portuguese coastline, over a 30-day period in November 2014.

The comprehensive test regime involved deploying the R2 repeater in 5,100 meters of water with lightweight cable, with a further deployment in 1,000 meters water depth with armoured cable. In addition, the R2 Branching Unit was deployed in 4,000 metres of water. Both products are designed to withstand pressures at up to 8,000 meters deep; allowing deployment to full ocean depths.

Dr. Jerry Brown, an authoritative industry expert on cable and repeater design who was invited to witness the sea trial to provide an independent expert report, stated, “I was pleased to be a part of Huawei Marine’s successful completion of these trials. The Huawei Marine’s new titanium product set with its robust mechanical structure exhibited exceptional ease of handling while delivering excellent optical and electrical performance throughout the trials.”

The new RPT 1660 R2 provides an optical loop back facility for performance monitoring and accurate fault location. The upgraded product supports up to six fiber pairs and incorporates a unique, 4×4 pump redundancy architecture, further enhancing reliability and performance parameters. Further design refinements include an innovative approach to hermetic sealing and internal environment management, through adoption of glass-to-glass plus metal-to-metal sealing and hydrogen absorption technology. In addition, the slim-line profile of the pressure housing and bend limiters allows direct lay and plough burial. This simultaneous operation significantly reduces system installation costs by eliminating the need for an expensive secondary, post-lay burial operation.

The BU 1650 R2 enables fiber pairs to be routed to multiple destinations in a submarine communications system either through direct routing of fibres or through an optical add drop function which facilitates sharing of bandwidth. Multiple terminals can be connected supporting up to eight fibre pairs from each port. A new bipolar power supply and power switching function provides the necessary configuration options during system operations and maintenance that enables the Branching Unit to function even when cable faults occur. Such functionality is further enhanced with a dual polarity remote earthing design providing additional system powering flexibility.

Both products feature an industry leading small form factor lightweight titanium mechanical envelope. This robust design offers significant strength to weight and natural corrosion characteristics.

Mr. Sigurd Zhang, Vice President, Technology, Huawei Marine, said, “Huawei Marine is committed to developing innovative technology that supports our customers’ requirements for lower costs whilst increasing system capacity, performance and reliability. The development of the second-generation Repeater and Branching Unit builds on our previous successes and demonstrates the innovative capabilities of Huawei Marine products. Already these products are proving to be commercially significant within the industry.”