Optical switching and electrical powering architecture for undersea mesh networking

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021391925-A1
Application number	US-202117322452-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 17, 2021
Priority date	Jun 12, 2020
Publication date	Dec 16, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed is an undersea power routing device including a first coupling port, a high voltage converter a second coupling port. The first coupling port may be configured to be coupled to an electrical power conductor and fiber optical cables of an undersea branch cable. The high voltage converter may be coupled to the first coupling port and operable to connect to the electrical power conductor via the first coupling port. The high voltage converter may be further operable to convert a high voltage electrical power supplied by the electrical power conductor to an output voltage having a lower voltage electrical power than the high voltage electrical power. The second coupling port may be configured to couple the high voltage converter to an interconnect cable. The high voltage converter, when coupled to the interconnect cable, may be operable to distribute the lower voltage electrical power to the interconnect cable.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An undersea power routing device, comprising:
a first coupling port configured to be coupled to an electrical power conductor and fiber optical cables of an undersea branch cable; a high voltage converter coupled to the first coupling port and operable to connect to the electrical power conductor via the first coupling port, wherein the high voltage converter is operable to convert a high voltage electrical power supplied by the electrical power conductor to an output voltage having a lower voltage electrical power than the high voltage electrical power; and a second coupling port configured to couple the high voltage converter to an interconnect cable, wherein the high voltage converter, when coupled to the interconnect cable is operable to distribute the lower voltage electrical power to the interconnect cable.

2 . The undersea power routing device of claim 1 , comprising:
a modem configured to couple to the first coupling port and the second coupling port, and operable to:
receive communication signals via the first coupling port,
process the communication signals, and
output to the processed communication signals via the second coupling port.

3 . The undersea power routing device of claim 1 , wherein the first coupling port is operable to couple to a dual conductor cable.

4 . The undersea power routing device of claim 3 , wherein the dual conductor cable is a branch cable connected to an undersea switching branching unit.

5 . The undersea power routing device of claim 1 , wherein the second coupling port is operable to couple to the interconnect cable, wherein the interconnect cable is a dual conductor cable or a single conductor cable.

6 . The undersea power routing device of claim 5 , wherein the high voltage converter is further operable to supply electrical power to power one or more payloads, wherein the one or more payloads include at least one of a repeater, an amplifier, an offshore facility, or a sensor.

7 . The undersea power routing device of claim 1 , wherein the high voltage converter is further operable to:
adjust the output voltage in response to a command signal indicating a shunt fault.

8 . The undersea power routing device of claim 1 , wherein the high voltage converter is further operable to:
receive, via the undersea branch cable, control signals from remotely located power feed equipment.

9 . The undersea power routing device of claim 1 , wherein the high voltage converter is further operable to:
output, as the output voltage, a voltage having a substantially constant value.

10 . The undersea power routing device of claim 1 , wherein the high voltage converter is further operable to:
output an output current having a substantially constant value and is limited based on end user specifications.

11 . An undersea cable branching architecture, comprising:
a switching branching unit coupled to at least one trunk undersea fiber optic cable; a branch cable coupled to the switching branching unit, the branch cable including at least two fiber pairs and at least one electrical power conductor, wherein the switching branching unit is operable to switch a high voltage electrical power supplied by the at least one trunk undersea fiber optic cable to the at least one branch cable; and a power termination unit having a first port coupled to the at least one electrical power conductor of the branch cable and a second port, wherein the power termination unit is operable to:
obtain the high voltage electrical power from the at least one electrical power conductor of the branch cable,
convert the high voltage electrical power from the switching branching unit to electrical power with a lower voltage than the high voltage electrical power, and
supply the electrical power with the lower voltage to the second port.

12 . The undersea cable branching architecture of claim 11 , wherein the switching branching unit is further operable to connect at least one of at least two fiber pairs of the trunk fiber optic cable to a respective one fiber pair of the at least two fiber pairs of the branch cable.

13 . The undersea cable branching architecture of claim 11 , wherein the power termination unit is operable, during converting of the high voltage electrical power from the switching branching unit, to:
convert a low current of the high voltage electrical power to a higher current.

14 . The undersea cable branching architecture of claim 11 , wherein the power termination unit is further operable to:
adjust a voltage output to compensate for a shunt fault that is in the at least one trunk undersea fiber optic cable.

15 . The undersea cable branching architecture of claim 11 , wherein the power termination unit is further operable to:
receive, via the undersea branch cable, control signals from remotely located power feed equipment.

16 . The undersea cable branching architecture of claim 11 , wherein the power termination unit is further operable to:
output a voltage having a substantially constant value as the output voltage.

17 . The undersea cable branching architecture of claim 11 , wherein the power termination unit is further operable to:
output an output current having substantially a constant value and that is limited based on end user specifications.

18 . The undersea cable branching architecture of claim 11 , further comprising:
an interconnect cable connected to the second port of the power termination unit.

19 . The undersea cable branching architecture of claim 18 , further comprising:
one or more payload devices coupled to the interconnect cable, wherein the interconnect distributes the high current, low voltage electrical power from the second port, and at least one of the one or more payload devices is operable to use high current, low voltage electrical power.

20 . The undersea cable branching architecture of claim 19 , wherein the one or more payloads include repeaters, amplifiers, or sensors.

21 . The undersea cable branching architecture of claim 11 , wherein the switching branching unit is operable to:
provide optical switching and power switching functionality, and determine connectivity between fiber pairs in the at least one trunk undersea fiber optic cable and an interconnect cable coupled to the power termination unit.

Assignees

• Subcom Llc

Inventors

• Garrett Lara Denise
• Li Haifeng
• Wisniewski Ii Stanley C
• Marino Jr Thomas

Classifications

• H04B10/808 Primary

  Electrical power feeding of an optical transmission system · CPC title

• H04Q11/0003

  Details · CPC title

• H04B10/801 Primary

  using optical interconnects, e.g. light coupled isolators, circuit board interconnections · CPC title

• H04Q2011/006

  Full mesh · CPC title

• H04B10/032 Primary

  using working and protection systems {(H04J14/0287 takes precedence)} · CPC title