TAT-8: The First Transatlantic Optical System

R. L. Easton

doi:10.1117/12.963235

15 January 1990 TAT-8: The First Transatlantic Optical System

R. L. Easton

Proceedings Volume 1174, Fiber Optics Reliability: Benign and Adverse Environments III; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.963235
Event: OE/FIBERS '89, 1989, Boston, United States

Abstract

TAT-8, the first transatlantic optical fiber system, was installed in the summer and fall of 1988 and went into service in December of that year. The design life of the system is 25 years, with an objective of no more than three ship repairs caused by spontaneous sudden or gradual changes in its component parts. The experience with TAT-8 during its first year in operation (and, for somewhat shorter times, with systems of the same design installed in the Pacific) is reported. Based on that experience, projections of likely future performance are made. Some of the failure modes that were of concern during the development, the measures taken to exclude them, and the degree to which these currently appear to have been successful, are discussed. As I write this abstract in the spring of 1989, I am imbued with the sincere hope that there will not be much in the way of specific events to report and the somewhat conflicting question of how I will provide an interesting talk if that hope is fulfilled. Questions that will be of interest are whether the redundancy incorporated into the system appears to have been required, whether there are any indications of changes with time, and any lessons that can be abstracted to be applied to the next generation. Assuming favorable results, there is the challenge of reporting these in a sufficiently modest manner, to prevent invoking the well known jinx associated with overconfidence in these matters.

Citation Download Citation

R. L. Easton "TAT-8: The First Transatlantic Optical System", Proc. SPIE 1174, Fiber Optics Reliability: Benign and Adverse Environments III, (15 January 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.963235

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KEYWORDS

Reliability

Transmitters

Fiber optics

Relays

Switching

Analog electronics

Failure analysis

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